Lucky
April 29 was the hottest day Delhi has seen in 50 years: 43.5 Celsius (110 F!). Just our luck that that was the day we had chosen to fly out to the US. Except we didn’t fly out. Dad and I were up at 4:30 AM and planned to be on the road […]
Whimsy
Dad is such a funny man, such a delight to have in our home. This morning, I served the first watermelon of the season. It was bright red and very sweet and we both loved it. I always swallow the seeds, but I noticed that Dad was carefully removing each one before taking a bite. […]
Simple Kindness
This morning at breakfast, Dad told me about an incident from his childhood. He grew up in the Great Depression and his family was very poor. One day, it seemed every child in the neighborhood had a bolo bat and ball (a wooden paddle with a ball attached to it by an elastic). “Nyeh, nyeh,” […]
More Christmas
Most babies find Santa terrifying. White hair and beard, funny hat, over-friendly: what’s a baby to do? Most burst into tears and howl to be rescued. Not little Angel. Nirmala’s baby girl found our Santa utterly charming. And he found HER enchanting. Merry Christmas!
Christmas, Latika Style
It was the usual celebration at Latika this year, except that, also as usual, the turnout was twice as large as we expected. But we had it covered for once. Last year, we planned for 100 (our usual attendance in December is 50) and 150 came. So this year, we decided we would finally beat […]
Christmas
I love Christmas, especially in India where it is still possible to approach it with simplicity and stillness. We do a lot of baking and invite close friends over for meals. We play carols all day long, beginning from December 1st, and we have a fire in the fireplace most evenings and long leisurely […]
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 […]
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 […]
Al Fresco!
Dining in a garden! There is something so charming about it, something so pleasant and whimsical and delightful. And European! Preeti and Sebastian invited us for lunch yesterday and when we arrived at their beautiful, bright, cheerful house, we found they had moved their dining table onto the patio and their patio chairs right into […]