Lakshmi Iyer's Blog, page 53
September 16, 2017
Girlfriends
There is frenzied knocking on my bathroom door followed by incoherent yelling. I turn the shower off and manage to catch part of it. “Can Ammu and I go to our friend L and J’s home? Please? Pretty please?” I am impressed by the depth of feelings that pours out of Pattu’s voice. “No! You […]
September 15, 2017
Book Review: Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
A friend recommended this book on Goodreads and on impulse, I checked it out from my library. At a little under 500 pages, it took me two days to finish the book. The story is about two women. Solimar from Mexico who dreams of getting to and building a life in America. Kavya, a Berkeley […]
September 10, 2017
Bringing Home Puppy
“We should adopt a dog,” I say enthusiastically returning home from a lunch with a friend and pet parent. I go on to recount in painful detail how Toby the golden retriever serenaded me with his toys and later settled down with me on the sofa petting me with his paw. We all had a […]
September 4, 2017
Stand Up And Be Counted
I lie in a carb induced stupor, an aftereffect of the Onam Sadya at my brother’s home. The ambient light makes it impossible for me to pin down a time. All I know is that I have been napping a tad too long. My children have been watching TV a tad too long. I struggle […]
10 Reason Why Kids Will Change Your Life
You get to enjoy watching the sun rise on a Sunday morning in the predawn hours even if you only went to bed at 2:00 AM You went to bed at 2:00 AM because you *finally* got four uninterrupted hours to read that book that has been lying on your bedside table for a few […]
September 2, 2017
Wishes
The cold is uncomfortable. The kids shuffle along looking for their cozy slippers long buried under a mountain of fleece and wool. I long for a sweater but hold out hope for a return to warmth. The rain does not help. Incessant, drab, the drip, drip of the water is grating on my nerves. I […]
August 31, 2017
Holding Back Tears
My calf muscle aches as I bend over yet another trash bag that is over half full of gently used children’s clothing. All through the morning I picked through, sifted and made piles of clothes. In excellent condition, good condition and definitely well-used ones. They went into different bags. Some on FB marketplace to find […]
August 28, 2017
Letters To My Daughters: Move On
Dear Ammu, Pattu, and Laddu, Tonight, Ammu dissolved into tears and I stood by powerless, rudderless. What happened today is not the first. It will not be the last either. It happens to all of us. People we want to be friends with don’t feel that way about us. As you stood sobbing, your eyes […]
August 26, 2017
Setting Sun
The setting sun is a ball of red in the horizon, imbuing the clouds with a haze of pink and orange. I am by the stove watching mustard dance around in the hot oil when I hear Saathi sigh. I turn to notice him watching the sun sink lower. A questioning eyebrow reveals he wanted […]
On Air With The Takeaway
A month back I wrote about visiting the WHYY studio in Philadelphia to record a conversation with my children’s mother. We spoke about race, about what it means to share children across racial lines. Most of all, we spoke about the kind of world we want our children to inherit. The series is called Uncomfortable Truths. […]
