More on The Princess
Weddings are all about relationships. and since Indian weddings are so L-O-N-G, there is always plenty of time to observe and document: who’s talking to whom, who’s planning what. So we had husbands and wives speculating . . . Amaji advising . . . Uncles conferring . . . Aunts deciding . . . Friends […]
The Princess Bride
I knew that Nileshwari would be an exquisite bride and that her wedding would an unforgettable experience. I traveled all the way to Lucknow – in the midst of unbelievable work pressure and complicated family issues – because of my affection for this lovely young woman and, truth be told, out of a sense of […]
In Pursuit of Knowledge
Here’s an intrepid scholar: age 87, off to his Hindi class in an auto rickshaw. Dad is incredible! He goes two mornings a week and spends many more hours in the afternoons doing his homework. He SAYS it goes right through his head like water through a sieve, but I see some progress. . . […]
Mail From Home
Dad was once a champion letter writer. He could churn them out by the dozen, and he never forgot a birthday or an anniversary. When we were in college, he would often send us little notes, with a five dollar bill slipped inside and instructions to “go out and have an ice cream cone”. Now […]
Birthday Girl!
Moy Moy turned 19 today and, as always, it was a special day of celebration and reflection. She woke earlier than usual, smiling and beaming. She loved the new dress and the bright yellow turtleneck I had gotten her for wearing to college and she caused a round of applause at the breakfast table when […]
The Comforts of Home
“Jo,” Dad asked on Saturday morning. “When could you take me to get a haircut? It’s just driving me crazy it’s so long.” It was the fourth time he had asked me. I had been racking my brain for days trying to think of a barber whose shop was presentable enough to take Dad to […]
Flowers
It’s not quite flower season yet here in Dehradun (that’s January and February), but the wonderful thing about this city is that there are flowers literally, year round. Especially if you have a gardener like Ramesh Rawat. Ramesh is a genius.His father was our gardener when we first moved here and Ramesh has inherited the […]
Street Life
Sometimes it’s fun to just go for a walk and see what there is to see. Since we didn’t celebrate Diwali this year because of Mom’s death, I had a lot of time on my hands in the afternoon. I walked around the neighborhood shooting whatever took my fancy. This family was on their way […]
The Galaxy
A long time ago, I promised a photo of Dehradun’s version of the “Grassy Knoll”. This is the best I can do. It’s hard to find the right angle for this one. The house would actually look fine on a three-acre plot, but since it’s on a much smaller one, and since the street is […]
Fr Charles Drennan
I first met Fr Charles in my parish church in Dehradun. Good sermons are hard to come by here and I invariably get excited when a new priest arrives because “there’s always hope”! Charles did not disappoint. Except by the fact that he wasn’t staying around. I discovered, on that first Sunday, that he had […]