Concoction of all that is beautiful in Our life

Oh my dear March !!!!  March is my birthday month and so I was beaming with happiness as I was going to be in Kerala to celebrate my thirtieth. The mere thought of being surrounded by loved ones and celebrating my thirtieth birthday filled so much joy in me , I was eagerly waiting to fly to Kerala. Being in a tight project schedule, I literally had to beg for a week's holiday. Finally after cajoling and imploring, the huddle of leave sanction was done.Then on the day of travel when we reached the airport , our flight was cancelled. The next flight we got was on Monday. Spent the Saturday and Sunday killing time and cursing the airlines, I waited impatiently . And once the flight landed Kerala, I was jumping with joy. No matter how bad the weather is , how gossipy the people are , I love Kerala. When we reached home , Daddy told me Amma was not feeling well since few days. She is suffering from some gastric trouble. Minor gastric issues and I thought she would be ok soon. Later af...

Image courtesy: Google Today, we  have completed 8 years since we became man and wife. And for me this 8 years had been the most important period of my life as it molded me to be the woman of courage from the girl I had been. For the conservative malayali girl getting married at 21 was blissful. I had limited dreams and career aspirations . And I too felt elated and complacent to find the right man. For my Parents, this arranged marriage was the happiest as they didn’t have to worry about the status quo. A marriage without any demands from the groom's side was a relief and assured my safety even I am miles apart. My dad was bit skeptical to marry me off to Mumbai ,for him it was not the city of dreams and was the city of bomb blasts, terror attacks, religious outbursts and riots. Still he consented considering the groom's simplicity and humility. My mom was sad to send off her youngest girl to a far-off city, still happy to get me married at the right time prescribe...

Deep in thoughts , I couldn't fathom this mystery woman in me. There are many things about myself I don't understand . Trying to inculcate many new habits, trying to improve in whatever I could. Unable to choose the priorities, pondering over too many stuffs. Thinking how or where my career leads me. Where would I be in 5 years, leave 5 what about 2 or 3 years... There is too much stuffs to dooo, but hardly any recognition.... The way ahead is too vague and I have ambivalent emotions to that. Feeling alone and baffled,petrified and disturbed, I understand the only thing constant in life is 'change'. The utter state of confusion , a good mom, a role model employee, a great home maker... what could I do to manage all????? Is it possible to excel in one without worrying about something else.. I think it's not.. As approaching 30, I am too scared to think what I have achieved in my 30 years of existence..... Only thing I should hold on to is HOOOPPPEEEEE.... PATIENCE.....

I haven't read many memoirs before. I found this one by Paul Kalanithi profoundly poignant of courage, dedication, love and loss. Paul was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 36 when he was completing the last year of his Neurosurgery residency and after 22 months, he died in March 2015 while his daughter Cady was just 8 months old. Paul had earned degrees in Literature,Biology and Medicine from Ivy league universities and aspired to be a Neurosurgeon-scientist and as a writer. A gifted doctor,a brilliant scientist,a passionate writer,a loving son, brother ,husband and father .. numerous were the role he played and I believe he played all of these roles flawlessly well. Throughout the book , I was amazed by his wisdom and the myriads of books he would have read. He replaced his love for literature and ambition to be a writer with neurosurgery to do something tangible by saving lives.After years of grueling residency and long hours at work, Paul and his wife Lucy was going th...

Dear  Kunju, Even before we knew you were born, you are two . It was on Friday March 6th 2015 that we came to know you have sprouted inside me, our perfectly planned absolute God sent gift. From then, till now and forward , we know that you will be the most precious of everything we have.You are our life.... Our world literally revolves around you. Ever since you came up, our life has been ebullient and cheerful. From the ' paavam ' new born to the naughty toddler you have evolved a lot. At times, it make me sad to realize that I can't rock you on my lap anymore,carry on my arms to let u sleep. But I have really enjoyed every phase of that. If it wasn't for you, I would not have had the scariest C-section, the yucky moringa leaves soup(it literally tasted shit), the ' netholi ' curry, lots and lots of ' kurukke ' (ayurvedic medicines given to women after delivery to resuscitate their health  and to feed the baby ). Though it was heart breakin...

When I was growing up , I thought learning is a phase wherein we study what is in the text books for exams to secure good scores and ensure a safer future. I believed great scores would make certain I get a good job and ample money and be rich and admirable. The pedagogy that my school or college followed has entrenched it in my mind. I really never bothered to find anything that would have helped me learn from the world outside study guides. School life was fun and my school gave adequate importance to arts and sports as to academics. My school had significant presence in the inter-school competitions in the district and state level and I had been to one of such events and participated when I was in lower classes. As I moved to higher classes , my significant interest was to study what is in text books, memorize them and spew them into the answer sheets for the exams. Nothing ever triggered the thought to establish the concepts firmly. No teacher ever asked how familiar we are with t...

My employer has 3 different office venues in Mumbai. Most of my teammates are in this office location which is too far from where I stay.I would often tell my team mates that I would reach Pune in the same time I take to commute there(I stay at the far end of Mumbai .. sigh). One of our analysts from US is on vacation at her home town in Gujarat and she decided to pay us a friendly visit as she had some VISA formalities at Mumbai. To benefit the majority, the venue was obviously the other office. Unlike other times when I would grouse about my travel woes , this time around I was happy visiting the office(No monday blues !!) because I was really fond of the collegaue.She is really a cool person to work with. We worked in a project and she really had been very clear about the requirements and the deadlines. Apart from her , there is one more analyst who I really admire for her clarity of thoughts and prudent analytical skills. Both of their names starts with M. M came to our...