My Dad died on August 1st. Death has all sorts of approaches. It hits you like a tidal wave the moment it happens, then sucks you down like quicksand as you meet other people who loved him too. It lulls you into forgetfulness and then punches [...]

Three days ago, I posted here about my fight to become Moy Moy’s legal guardian. As a foreigner, I am, it appears, ineligible under Indian law, in spite of being Moy Moy’s mother and her fiercest champion. My story was widely shared [...]

On Thursday I attended a meeting at the Dehradun District Magistrate’s office. As one of the city’s prominent organizations for people with disability, we were asked to be present at a session to decide on guardianships for a number [...]

“If you never have, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.” ~ Dr Seuss One of the questions we are so often asked at Latika Vihar and Karuna Vihar is “Don’t you ever teach the children? All they seem to do is [...]

Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing: “We can’t find staff. Where are all the good people, the qualified people, the people who can write, think creatively, analyze?” It’s the same all over the country – at least in the voluntary sector. The [...]

After 22 days of working non-stop (for three weekends in a row, I attended conferences every Saturday, every Sunday) I thought it was time for a break. I took  a day off. I called it a Mental Health Day and I didn’t go to work. What a [...]

This essay first appeared in Commonweal Magazine. Last week I held a writing workshop for some of my young colleagues in the Foundation. Although fluent in spoken English, they struggle to get their thoughts and ideas on paper. One reason they [...]