Yours Sincerely

Four months ago, we celebrated the arrival of the new year 2021 with new zeal and freedom. We just emerged from what felt like a horror story. We thought we could renew and recelebrate life. It feels like a distant past now. Movies, street food, and family gatherings are from a different era. Today, as we live this nightmare, it is very difficult to put to words what we are going through. The horror of the first wave seems meek in comparison. Although my heart goes out to all those who lost lives and livelihoods from it. We are awake at night troubled by reality. We are scared to wake up in the morning to discover how much it has worsened. If we are lucky enough to survive or to be safe, we count our blessings every hour. We worry about the future, friends, family, and dear ones. If we are unfortunate to go through the loss of a loved one, I cannot even attempt to assume what one goes through. We pray. We hope. And with incredible spirit, we try to carry on with our lives. We don't...

Sharing my experiences as a mother of three-year-old twin girls to show how dominating the effect of social conditioning is on us and how difficult it is to eliminate it as it is so unconscious. I want to drive home the point that women (or any oppressed group) do have an uphill task to fight against their own and everyone else's conditioning to break the stereotype. This also shows how skewed a lot of our available art and literature is in terms of gendered roles: 1. While narrating a very innocent story to my kids about a mother leaving her daughter at home for work, I had to narrate a scene where the child's grand-dad fries papads for lunch. And my daughter's very innocent question with the look of surprise on her face is enough to say it all - "Do grandpas fry papads ?" She hasn't seen men cook and the implication of that hit me hard. Equality begins at home, and it cannot be emphasized enough. Gendered roles in parenting are unhealthy and damaging for ch...

2020 is incredibly hard to describe for anyone. It is like we were somehow jolted into an alternate reality that we didn't know existed. I am aware it must have an extremely stressful year for many who had to cope with sweeping changes, financial difficulties, health issues, and loss of near and dear ones. Praying for the souls of those who lost their lives and hopeful that 2021 gives us the strength to face what lies ahead. What 2020 was for me: My 2020 has thankfully not been as stressful as many, and I have much to be grateful for. While it was a rollercoaster, the entire year had so many phases to it, each giving a new perspective to life. In 2019, I had no idea that I would have soon started my MBA at London Business School in the middle of a pandemic, moved out of Mumbai shuttling between cities and continents, lived in a joint family / back-to-student-flatmate life, started cooking among other things.  There was initially the 'Zen' phase at work where I knew I needed...

So SRK can pee in a church in DDLJ. Nobody gets offended. Minor girl can be raped in a temple . Nobody gets offended. Come to think of it - Hrithik Roshan was romancing near Haji Ali in Fiza, and nobody got offended. But Hindu woman kissing a Muslim boy in a temple on-screen. THAT'S offensive! Never mind the scores of college kids who make out in empty temples anyway. Reality does not matter. If someone says it is offensive on a whim, it is! You see - it is very easy to be outraged in India for all sorts of illogical reasons. You can be outraged over someone eating beef, you can be outraged over someone kissing someone else, you can be outraged over someone writing a book, you can be outraged over a great many things. Unfortunately, when it comes to the real test where you expect outrage, that is where this country remains mute, like when a rape-victim is burnt alive in police custody on her way to testify in court. THAT can be forgotten, in fact, it's hardly noticed, if at a...

A hot topic of discussion in the toddler-moms WhatsApp group in the midst of the much-needed lockdown in Mumbai has been around ideas to entertain their toddlers at home. With the daycares and playschools shut, we often tend to over-do the screen time as we are left with no choice.  But even that works only to a point till the little ones get super-bored, or super tired, or super cranky and expect more. So I am trying to put together some tips and ideas based on my experience with my twin girls on tips to engage small children at home in a safe and healthy manner, along with a list of resources which I find useful for parents in a similar situation. So read along and have fun with your children! 1. Be partners in crime As much as possible, operate in shifts between you and your partner, especially if you're working from home than being a lone soldier in this and keep your house from becoming a war zone with work and kids becoming too much to handle. Small kids generally c...

Earlier, I have written about my gratitude towards women who have struggled to break the norms throughout history to achieve something like equality that we have today, women have given us voice and women who continue this struggle to make lives better for us. I want to re-share the post here first because that to me is the essence of celebrating women's day: A moment of gratitude and empathy: Celebrating the spirit of Women's Day - link I promised to continue to endure and carry on with the struggle. This time, I am calling upon people of all genders to introspect and acknowledge the different privileges each of us have, so that we can understand and bridge the gap between equality and marginalization. Understanding privilege is important - because every inch of our privilege is bought with suppressing a part of our own humanity. Privilege tells us lies to suppress the acceptance that marginalization and oppression are the inevitable foot-holders of privilege, that pr...

Can we have some of these women as characters in Indian cinema please: Vidharbha Woman Wicketkeeper Catches a Burglar Barehanded, Praised by Police  - link