Lakshmi Iyer's Blog, page 36
July 18, 2019
Notes From A Newly Minted Working Woman
I survey the place around me from my elevated perch. I am on the elliptical chanting Vishnu Sahasranamam while pushing my body to do more, to sweat more. Laddu walks down from the bed. Her hair is mussed, her face unwashed and sticky from sleep. She lazes on the sofa before me. The twins are […]
July 8, 2019
An Average Day
“Take a picture” I beg Saathi as I scramble to get out of the house. He looks at the lamp above and declares it will not be a good picture. He takes one anyway and it is bad. I grab my phone, collect my folder, new bag, water bottle and get into the car. I […]
July 4, 2019
Milestone: Re-entering Workforce
My iWatch shows I have about 4K steps to my self imposed goal of 10K steps a day. I walk around the house as lightning glows outside. A peal of thunder is enough to shake me from my reverie. I look outside and the weeds that have taken over my front yard irk me. A […]
July 2, 2019
Vacation Tales
We (my children and I) returned from a ten-day trip to Texas late last night. Exhaustion had us sleeping well into the morning. All day today I unpacked and prepped for the week ahead. Milk boiled away in anticipation of making curds. The grinder whirred all evening making a fine silky batter of rice and […]
June 19, 2019
Filial Expectations
I am at the stove deep frying thenkuzhal, a golden extrusion of rice and lentil flours fried and drained on paper towels before being inhaled. Amma stands next to me painstakingly filling the extruder for me to use for the next round. She then walks over to cut cabbage for the evening dinner. She is […]
June 16, 2019
Essay: Arranged Marriage
For years, I dreamed of being published by Brain, Child Magazine. Then, last year, I met an editor that worked for the magazine at Yale. Fast forward a year, I now have a piece published in the inaugural issue of Centered: A magazine of personal stories.
June 9, 2019
Building A Sonata
Earlier this week, a friend shared this letter (excerpt 3). Words that have stuck with me for over two decades now when I first discovered Bach and the Bridge Across Forever. There was even a time when I thought I could not get married to someone who cannot discuss stuff like this with me. Eighteen years […]
June 6, 2019
Musings: End Of School Year
The water swirls around my feet, pulsing from the jets in the tub. The chair I am on pounds in synchrony, massaging my back as I let out a sigh of contentment. The woman scrubbing my feet, sloughing off dead cells, works in silence. My phone dings, an aberration in the otherwise zen space I […]
May 28, 2019
A Wish And A Wisp
Walking around the house while the rasam bubbled merrily on the stove, I decided to scroll through my contact list for a particular person. As I scrolled I realized with increasing horror that I had over a thousand entries. Sure a few were duplicate but a vast majority were relics from my past. Figuring I […]
May 26, 2019
Bye, Bye Pria!
I suppose I should be sentimental. This week we traded in my very first car for something newer. I bought or rather Saathi bought me my first car a little before I turned 30. I spent all of my teens and twenties taking autos and cabs because I had debilitating road fear and I never […]
