What inclusion feels like…

This past week was Diwali. Since this was to be a Diwali in lockdown, my husband and I weren't expecting much. We had bought a few packets of sweets from the Indian store to give to our neighbours and had thought of putting the boxes in paper bags and leaving them outside their doors. Apart … Continue reading What inclusion feels like… →

An immigrant’s Diwali in Dublin

One of the elements of the expat or the immigrant life is the longing and the loneliness. The longing for friends and family who live in another part of the world, the loneliness - at least initially when you don't know a lot of people and miss the deep friendships that you once had. And so, when a festival comes up, you wish for both - companionship and friends to celebrate the good days, to revel in shared customs and traditions and to repeat over a hundred times how one misses the home that one has left behind.

Experiencing the Culture Night in Dublin

Walking tours, taster dance classes, musical performances, literary readings, immersive cinema, open air concerts - the Culture Night in Dublin had so many things on offer and everything was free. And if you were lucky like us, the night had many other unintended surprises, like a grinning young man, randomly approaching you and asking if you had any weed please?

What’s Onam? What’s happening in this part of Dublin?

There's something about a feast that is served on a banana leaf, with as much as 26 different varieties of food, all vegetarian and to have people serving you with a lot of love and affection. It is for this feast of Onam sadya, that we took a bus, wearing our traditional Indian outfits with husbands and children in tow, and head to the North of Dublin. Because how can one possibly resist a feast so divine?