On the first day of term, my son returns home minus his (new) school bag.  ‘I am sure I left it in my locker, mum,’ he tells me. But I can guess from the way he averts his eyes that he’s not sure. I sigh knowing I’ll be on the phone to the Transport for London Lost Property Office on the morrow to find out if a school bag was ... Read More »

It is holiday season! Yippee. The schools have broken up, the heat wave is lasting longer than the obligatory two days, the roads to the coast are jam-packed with heaving cars and sweaty people armed with sun screen and swimsuits. So, have you booked your holiday yet? For me, holidays to India always start with a list. As soon as we let the family know that we’ve booked our tickets, ... Read More »

Are you part of a Book Club? Would you like to be? Do you think Book Clubs help you enjoy a book more? Or are you one of those people for whom reading is a private experience not to be shared, dissected? When my daughter started nursery, I found myself, all of a sudden with two free mornings on my hands to do with what I liked.  There was always ... Read More »

So, ‘Monsoon Memories’ is out there, out of my hands and into yours.  I must admit that I was nervous, so nervous. For such a long time this story was just in my head. And now, it is going to be read, judged by so many people- it is like the feeling you get before you send your little one off to school for the very first time, teetering on ... Read More »

Last night, Shirin, the protagonist of Monsoon Memories appeared in my dream- ‘Not long to go now,’ she said, ‘What are you doing to celebrate the launch? Are you having a feast?’ And instantly I was transported to the feast days of my childhood- the air smelling of caramelised sugar and candy floss; the sun reflecting off the gold adorning people decked in all their finery so they looked as ... Read More »

‘There’s a thief in the village,’ my mum sighs into the phone, ‘Steals coconuts, chickens and he even stole Dhooma’s prize milking cow it seems.’ ‘What about the noise?’ I say. ‘Did nobody hear anything?’ ‘Well, they must have heard the chickens squawking and thought a frog got in the hen house. And the cow, well, you know how deaf Dhooma is-he would sleep through a hurricane. And his wife ... Read More »

Once every week, I speak to my grandmother and our conversations go something like this, give or take a few words, every single time: Me: How are you, Gran? Gran: Not well, aches and pains everywhere, that balm you got last time is finished. It worked wonders. Me: I will get it next… Gran: Never mind that, have you eaten? Me: Not yet. Gran: Why not? Me: It’s nine o’clock ... Read More »

Once upon a time, there was an albino frog, who, tired of being teased by his counterparts for being different, took refuge in my mother’s warm, dark kitchen. However, the poor frog had not reckoned with my mother, who, bleary eyed with sleep staggered into the kitchen in search of a tumbler of tea and almost stumbled over a white blob sitting right by the doorway. She squinted at it, ... Read More »

Let’s talk about the weather. So, it’s officially spring, the clocks are going forward, but the question on everyone’s lips is, where is the milder weather? People are posting pictures of daffodils poking out from under a deluge of snow, a sliver of yellow flashing from beneath all that dazzling white. Avid gardeners mope with nothing to do.  Normally they would be flitting between garden centres, getting the best offers ... Read More »