I loved old-fashioned letters written with a pen on paper, I loved the texture of the paper, the postage stamp, the envelope with the address of a street or lane from an unknown city, the handwriting of the sender, the fragrance, the stamps of post offices, everything. But, Alas!! Nobody writes such a letter these … Continue reading The Lost Joy of Letter Writing #MondayMusings
Most people adopt pets but I have been always adopted by pets. They just land up in front of me and never let me leave. They stick to me stubbornly. When we lived in Gangtok, we had a street dog called Julie. It was an extremely fluffy and cute dog. One day it took shelter … Continue reading The Pets that Adopted us
I was newly married and living abroad. One morning, I got a frantic call from my dad’s part-time maid. She said “Didi, there have been heavy rains and our neighbourhood flooded. Your dad has got a high fever. He is unable to get up from the bed and the whole house is filled with drain-water.” … Continue reading When My House Flooded #writebravely #WTFOW2018
My dad’s grandmother’s sister was a child widow. She got married when she was seven years old and became a widow at nine. She absolutely had no memory of her married life. She didn’t even have a photo of her husband. All her life she stayed as a leftover member of the family. Her brother’s … Continue reading Beyond Last Wish #WTFOW2018
The regular readers of my blog already know about Sikku. She was my mom’s foster daughter. My mom loved her more than she loved me. One day, my mom washed clothes and brought them out of the house to dry them. It was one of the rare sunny days in Gangtok and Ma found it … Continue reading The Clothesline and Sikku #WTFOW2018
Yasmeen’s maiden name was Sujata. After getting married to her Muslim driver she changed her name to Yasmeen and converted to Islam. Yasmeen or Sujata is my mother-in-law's neighbor. When she was around 19 years old her parents decided to get her married. She was a beautiful girl and ever since she was 14 years … Continue reading Yasmeen- The Hindu Wife #A-ZChallenge2018
Xavier Bivera was the quintessential handsome macho guy in college. He was the heartthrob of almost every girl and those girls who actually didn’t feel anything for him also started liking him out of peer pressure. He was tall, lean, and looked like a Roman God. He was a year senior to me. I used … Continue reading Xavier Bivera- The Fallen Rockstar #A-ZChallenge2018
Waheeda had twelve children. When I met her she was expecting the thirteenth. Her eldest daughter was 14 years old and Waheeda herself was 28 years. So she literally had one child every year since her fourteenth birthday. Waheeda literally begged me to appoint her as a part-time maid. I was honestly hesitant looking at … Continue reading Waheeda- The Poor and Smart Woman #A-ZChallenge2018
Vaswani Uncle loved playing with kids in the park. I always used to find him in the park swinging some child or helping some child get off the slide. He had a scooter and kids flocked around him for a free joyride. He used to indulge kids with chocolates and ice creams. My son was … Continue reading Vaswani Uncle- The Alleged Paedophile #A-ZChallenge2018
