Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar's Blog, page 22

Wordless Wednesday: Nanny Diaries, Doha Edition 2 with Vicky

It took nearly two months but someone finally trusted me enough to share her story. I’m amazed how many women are scared of repercussions from their employers. Not by the ‘bad’ ones who don’t pay well or are aggressive in their assignment of tasks, but also of the ‘good’ ones who work in fields like [...]

Chocolate: Day 8 #blogflash2013

In the first few weeks of my husband wooing me, on my desk every morning I would find a Kit-Kat bar and a can of Coke. Later that year, I saw a photo of myself. The butt on the woman in the photo was not one I recognized. My mind’s eye hadn’t caught up with [...]

Day Seven #blogflash2013: Nature

I am a city girl. There’s no doubt about. If you say camping to me, my first thoughts are about bathrooms. Luckily my husband hates bugs more than I hate squatting, so the Great Outdoors rarely beckon to us. Seven years in the desert, however, have given me an appreciation for foliage and trees I [...]

Day Six: Island, #blogflash2013

  Since 2005, I’ve lived on a quasi-island otherwise found in the dictionary under the category of peninsula. Surrounded by water on three sides, perched on the top of the Arabian Peninsula, sharing a border with Saudi Arabia, Qatar has been our home for over seven years. The population has grown in the last few [...]

Health: Day Five #blogflash 2013

Definitely the one aspect of life you take for granted until something goes wrong: good health. Older people tend to wish you health and happiness without your ever giving it a second thought. You smile at grandparents, parents of friends, and elders. Then one day they start disappearing. Cancer, old age, infirmity – they all [...]

Day Four: Books #Blogflash2013

When I was eight what I wanted most in the entire world was a Barbie. My father wanted me to put down toys and read a book. He meant academic books, the kind to get me ahead in school. He didn’t buy me a doll. My mother had no money of her own but she [...]

Day Three: Innocence #BlogFlash2013

I stayed up late tonight (despite an early morning looming on the horizon) to finish the third round of revisions on a manuscript years in the writing. To be this close to the end – i.e. publication and the eyes of readers – is a major temptation to rush on through. The protagonist is a [...]

Day Two: Technology #Blogflash 2013

When I was an undergrad student, my two mentors, History and English professors, would share their technology worries with me. Setting up voicemail, turning off ring tones, turning on battery indicators: I was their one stop, techstop. I found their helplessness endearing and silly. Until I started teaching undergraduates. “Can you help me transfer contacts from [...]

Day One #Blogflash2013: Laughter

They say that expat life involves two buckets: a sh*t bucket and a money bucket. When the first one outweighs the other, it’s time to move on.  This adage may be why people are shocked when they discover my husband and I have lived in Qatar for seven years. The average stay of a white [...]

Wordless Wednesday: Support Women Writers and Women’s Health

Women’s health has been the subject of international headlines over the last six months. From the recent U.S. presidential election to the outrage at violence against women in India, women’s bodies are very much still public debate. I’m pleased to support Linda Parkinson-Hardman and her project to create an anthology for women, by women, about [...]