No matter how many toys and books we buy, children always out-fox us by preferring: 1. our company2. water3. mud4. pots and pans5. real, concrete tasks6. our company At least, that’s been my experience. Lakshi and Vijay love it when we [...]

You worry about a bird that doesn’t fly. I saw this little fellow perched on a potted plant in our garden yesterday and I thought – “let me just run inside and grab the camera,” knowing he would be long gone by the time I [...]

What goes on in the mind of a child? Why is a swing so compelling, why does a mud puddle demand to be jumped in? What makes a a child kick a stone as she walks? And why-oh-why is a walky-talky so irresistible? A walky-talky is the term my friend [...]

When Ravi was in his teens in Mumbai (and I was still an innocent babe in Fall River), one of his favorite pastimes was going to the movies. In the late 50’s, American movies were in Technicolor while Bollywood’s were still black and [...]

I woke this morning feeling sad – you could almost say bereft. Swimming up through the waves of drowse and languid torpor, I couldn’t put my finger on the cause of the problem. I climbed out of bed, thinking it must have been a [...]

Vina died today (September 1st) after a year-long battle with cancer. She was brave and valiant almost to the very end  – in her last year, she gave her children, grandchildren and her many, many friends a chance to serve her as she had [...]

Getting Vibha Krishnamurthy to come to Dehradun, on any pretext, is always worth doing. She is one of the smartest, funniest, most enchanting people I have ever known and the fact that she is also a developmental pediatrician is the icing on the [...]