Jo’s Blog

I’ve received many flowers in my life in India. People here love to give bouquets. At birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and house-warmings – flowers are a standard gift. Yet, though everyone loves to buy them, few people seem to [...]

Grief is a funny old thing. These days, we spend so much time together, it feels like a friend. I don’t recognize myself in photos now. I’m smiling, and I look the same, but grief is right there too, crowding for space, insisting it [...]

Our first Christmas without Moy Moy. I love Christmas. But I am so grateful for the Indian tradition of not celebrating festivals for the year after a loved one dies. Because everything feels hollow this year. We seem to be moving in a parallel [...]

I woke up feeling sad. At breakfast I asked Ravi how he was doing and he said “You know I told you I’ve never really been sad in my life. But I’m sad now.” Ravi and I are like twins sometimes. This didn’t bode well. [...]

Children’s Day can be perfunctory (school-kids get a toffee and watch a cartoon in assembly) or educational (kids get to listen to a speech about Chacha Nehru) or, if their school is really creative – it’s a chance for teachers [...]

Mindfulness haunts us these days. We can’t stop thinking about Moy Moy. Often, we think so much we forget that she is gone. Yesterday, Ravi and I were about to go for our morning walk. He said “Let’s go quickly so we can get [...]

Moy Moy died one month ago today and I have not been able to write anything about her beyond the odd notes to close friends. What has happened feels so large, so heavy and so overwhelming I don’t know how to approach it. Wherever I go, [...]