Floods – at home and abroad
My niece, Erin Lea, lives in new Orleans with her husband Derek. Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina forced them out of their homes and tonight, it looks as if Hurricane Gustave is going to put them through it again. She’s smiling in the picture, but though she is a cheerful, optimistic person, I doubt she’s […]
Love and Loss
St John Chrysostom said “Those whom we love and lose are no longer where they were. They are now wherever we are.” I love these words. I love them especially because, living in India, I have felt so far away from my mother for many, many years. I would have loved to have lived closer […]
Linda Upadhyaya
Today is Linda’s birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 49 today – 08-08-08. A special day, a very special woman. It still seems unbelievable that she has gone. We think of her almost every day, remembering all that she did for us and for our children, and we bless her memory and pray […]
Fisher Island
img_9413.JPG Dad isn’t much into traveling these days. He gets tired easily and he hasn’t the desire or the interest that once took him around the world (to Africa, Portugal, Ireland, Israel and India, to name just a few). But after Mom’s death, he was determined to get to Florida to visit her twin sister […]
Dad and his Children
All of us together, without Mom. Such a poignant photo, such a sad moment. We wanted to mark it, but we could hardly bear to admit what was now our truth: Mom is no longer here with us. We are all on this earth because of her, and she no longer exists among us. That […]
Moving On
I am still in the US with Dad. We spend almost every waking hour together and I continue to feel so grateful for this chance to be with him. He is a brave man. In spite of his age (86) and his enormous loss, he continues to smile and make jokes. He knows we want […]
Mom
Mom died on June 21st at around 10 AM. I heard the news at the airport with Anand and my brother Christopher. We got home soon after and spent the afternoon at her bedside, gazing at her now still and peaceful face, telling stories and remembering. Dad is alternately brave and bereft.I am so glad […]
Home to Mom
I am returning to America tomorrow, though I have been back here in India less than six weeks. My mother, age 85, is failing rapidly and my sister Lucy, who looks after her, thinks these may be her final days. I pray that I make it home in time to see her once more. Although […]
The Mysteries of Childhood
These two little waifs in the foreground have fascinated me for well over a year, which is when I took this photo. There is something ancient in their expressions (particularly the one in blue), something deep and unfathomable which is in contrast with the view we like to hold of childhood and its innocence and […]
Backstage with Aruna Roy (and Bunker too!)
Meeting Aruna Roy was one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. I have heard about her for years from Ravi, and from Dunu, and from reading about her work in the press – but nothing prepared me for the real thing – the woman herself, so fiery and passionate […]