O mother! Forgive me for my ignorance… Remember you took me for a lesson when I was still so chubby and to talk so shy… To the place with a valley so green and mountains high… But before you sent you often told, in the story of Krishna and his mothers, Yashoda was greater as the view was thy… O […]

The other day an unusual thing happened. I grilled some food outside and decided to eat it inside, where the stereo was playing old Indian music. The combination of eating a hamburger and listening to “jo vada kiya vo nibhana parega” struck me as extremely incongruous and got me thinking. It was not just a quick flashback but rather a […]

I joined boarding school in 1987. In class IV. Initial few months were as expected, not very smooth. Interesting for sure. In the dormitory, I learnt to wake up early morning, , on my own, without being pushed & pulled by a family member, or cajoled and sometimes, threatened. Well, the morning rising bell was threatening, in a way. But, […]

I was not in Oak Grove for very long – however, my short time with the school was one of extreme happiness and has always remained a very important few years in my life. It was the early 1960’s when my mother enrolled my two brothers and myself in Oak Grove School, Jharipani. We were kitted out with the uniform […]

They met by rushing coolies and tea stalls. Two ordinary men grown grey with old age: Stained shirts yellow with sweat and wrinkles, That spoke of lives speeding like express trains. They stood in the overcrowded platform As the steam engine whistled impatiently. I do not know how many years had passed Since their last meeting but no words were […]

“Hey, silver guy!” Sitting at my desk, pretending doing something, I was startled. The department chair stood before me. They call you silver guy? – he gloated, as if calling Bruce Wayne, Batman. Yes Sir, some graduate students do. I replied in a-matter-of-fact way. This deflated the playfulness in his voice. I work on silver recovery from laundry wash water. […]