You know her. She’s the one who serves the tea in your friend’s house, or in the office where you work or the office where you are visiting. She keeps her head down and seldom makes [...]

I love resolutions – reflecting on them, making them, keeping them, discarding them: the circle of life! This year, mine include more hand-written letters, more time with my mother-in-law and her [...]

On New Year’s Day, I went to visit one of our neighbours. Mrs Agrawal is a good woman: funny, down-to-earth, warm and generous. I brought her some “Mexican Wedding Cakes” [...]

This is the time of year when many of my friends turn up in Goa, Kerala, Thailand and Singapore. It’s cold here in Dehradun and it seems right to get out if one can. I’m one of those [...]

Like every other good Christian growing up in the West, the story I heard about Mary and Joseph and the Inn at Bethlehem  went like this: there they were, a young, friendless couple, [...]

The moment when Santa Claus arrives is the most anxiously awaited part of every Latika Vihar Christmas celebration. The children pretend to be cool and unconcerned: but every single one of them [...]

Becoming a parent means letting go of many things, not least of which is unbroken sleep. We all understand this and most of the time we accept it with good grace. It’s part of the deal and [...]

Here’s a song I wrote for a Christmas concert a few years ago, set to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy. Children, hear the Christmas storyAges old and yet still newHow the Lord of power [...]

Tonight when I turned on the tap and no water came out, I thought about Vikram. Again. For, maybe, the 200th time today. Ravi and I have often remarked that without Vikram, our home would come to [...]

Masiji returned to our home this afternoon. Ravi’s 83 year old aunt has been living with us for the past four years. She shares a room with her sister (Ravi’s Mom) who is 93 and [...]