ANOU’S BLOG
Emotional bank
Emotional bank is an expression I heard for the first time some days back during Utpal's session with his therapist. She was explaining to us the fact that as Utpal had finally begun to think of ourselves as his 'family' or the closest thing to a family, it was...
The choice to live our lives as we want
I have always believed that nothing in life is fortuitous. This in reality is a lesson my father gave me quite early in life when he told me that no at single leaves moves without the will of a higher spirit. For the religious I guess it is God in whatever shape, for...
apologies and a small entreaty
For the past month or so you may have seen a flurry of posts that sound more personal and often have nothing to do with pwhy or any of the subject I usually rant about. I seek your understanding and extend my apologies. I am a mere mortal with her shares of problems...
3 days for 13 years
How would you feel if your labour of 13 years was judged in 3 days and dismissed as inadequate and unworthy to be given a second chance? Not good I presume particularly if you have spent 13 years of your time to build it brick by brick from scratch. Sadly this...
The last battle and a walk down memory lane
My very first encounter with the word 'cancer' was circa 1957. My grandmother was diagnosed with 'cancer'. I was five. All I remember is mama's silent tears as she read a letter that was delivered to her through the weekly diplomatic bag. We were in Rabat where my...
Health a la carte
Blissfully till now my trysts with the medical mafia were few, far away and second hand. They were oft recounted by people I knew and sometimes by my project why family for whom private - commercial - modern medicine is a sine qua non to social mobility. Just like for...
Missing you
Popples a.k.a. Utpal left yesterday morning. It was heart wrenching as for the very first time after many comings and goings he was sobbing. Normally I got a Bye Maam'ji as he hopped into the car and most of the times did not look back. This time however there were...
Rain Sweat and Tears
I was waiting for the rainsThe dark clouds to gatherThe skies to openI waited and waitedHolding on to the tears I needed to shedI wanted to take a long walkStomping in the rainMy face turned up to the skySo that the tears would mingle with the raindropsAnd no one...
Don’t lose faith in her…
Don't lose faith in her were my pa's final dying words. 'Her' in this occurrence is India. That was 21 years ago. I must admit it has been no easy task to keep the faith, specially as for the past 13 years I have seen its underbelly in more ways than one. One...
What is striking India is indifference
But what is really striking to me about India, much more than most other countries I have been to, is the indifference of privileged sectors to the misery of others. These words are an excerpt of a recent interview Noam Chomsky gave to a leading magazine. If one[...
No life is worthless…. the story of two souls
Some time back a relative conveyed to me trough the convenient sms medium that I was incapable of valuing relationships because I had no siblings. I blogged my hurt as writing out in the open is the best form of catharsis I know. The truth is I had a...
The curious case of the meat cleaver
One of the first 'demands' of parents of the slum where we began our work way back in 2000 was to teach their children English! Somehow these illiterate parents knew intuitively that knowing English would give their children a better start in life. We heeded to their...