“When a loved one has a different mind”

This book doesn't offer you 'answers'. Like Jerry Pinto says in the introduction, "The stories in this book do not seek to hold out answers. They tell you what happened and how it was dealt with. You may often disagree with what was done or how it was done... There are no moral lessons in this book, or easy stories in which everything comes out right in the end. There will be questions you will want to ask: How did you deal with the molestation? Where do you think your father is now? Did you ever forgive your mother? Did she marry someone else? Your questions should reassure you of the veracity of these narratives..."

Pottery and paper bags – a story of Dingle and India

We went to the counter, and paid for them. I was a bit hesitant about our purchase at first; I thought the mugs were rather expensive. But I knew that these were handmade and unique, and thus we were paying for the craft and their uniqueness. When the woman at the counter handed the cups/mugs to me, she put them in a paper bag that was fashioned out of a newspaper. The font looked very familiar. This looks like Hindi, I said to my husband.

Encountering the donkey enroute to the Devil’s Chimney Waterfall

A lone donkey grazed in a large filled full of yellow irises and other flowers that appeared like buttercups. You could see the backdrop of a mountain, and trees in the horizon. The donkey did not seem like he was in haste. He looked like he was at peace. Neck bent, head down in haze of green and yellow, he seemed far removed from the miseries of the world, and the unfairness, death and grief that rocked the world in the past year and more.

Harry Potter and my husband

The husband had clearly fallen for the stories, and the characters - liking Dobby, disliking how he was treated by the Malfoy family, getting angry at Snape and later feeling deeply for him, hating the romance between Hermione and Ron ("why do we need romance in everything?"), cheering for Harry and also for Dumbledore... And this past month, about five years or so after he first stumbled upon Nagini, and the world of Harry Potter, he bought all the books, albeit the Kindle editions.

Kindness is the superhero we all need – in 2022, and beyond…

As one writer shared: "Which brings me back to the original question – is there a Hindi word for kindness? Maybe there is and maybe there isn’t. It doesn’t matter. From the doctor who treated my family for free to the folks in the Jain mandir who gave us nutritious meals – it is our common humanity, our innate kindness that held us together. There was no reason for people to open their hearts at a time when all of us were stretched, but everyone still did."

To other writers, and your wonderful writing – thank you for these precious words

I want to celebrate other writers, no matter what stage of the writing journey they are at - whether they are just beginning, or are established names, or those who write without aiming or yearning for any 'success' of any kind. I want to celebrate their hard work, compliment them (I usually leave a comment, a like, some feedback) and most of all, I also want to share their writing with other readers. Writing is hard work. Whether you are writing a blog, a new report, a feature story, a personal essay or a book. I don't think I will ever hold back on complimenting - a fellow blogger, a journalist, an essayist, an author or anyone who writes - if I come across writing that reflects hard work and craft. Of course there may be jealousy - why can't I write like that? Or why didn't I get to do a story like that. But over all of that is genuine admiration and joy for the people who write, and for the stories that resonate with a wide variety of people.