Priya Arunkumar
Do what you have to!
By Priya Arunkumar Four kids. And a husband who walked away…The only thing she knew was to cook, she said.It will do, her mind said.It has to do, sighed her heart.You cook for your family, every single day, she told herself.Your mom did. Your grandmother too.There...
…and not even a “sorry ma’am”
By Priya ArunkumarThe queue had 10 people. But the two metres separating each one seem to add to the distance and it was a long wait. I picked a paper, sat on the outer section and began to read. I was waiting for my colleague’s daughter to finish the appointment...
Oh this age of ‘liking’ and ‘following’…
“Don’t forget to like me…” she ended her quick call, filling it with thousand-odd tidbits. It was just a minute’s call and out of the blue, but right on my birthday. Picking her line, I was pretty sure it was just to wish me a good day… sigh! It was a pretty...
So am I a ‘feminist’?
By Priya Arunkumar“You are a feminist, aren’t you? He smirked. Et tu brute, I silently thought as I looked at my childhood pal, who used to bully me at every given opportunity. No, why do you say that, I queried. “Well, long back when you joined us in school, I knew...
Basking in the wonder of childhood innocence
By Priya Arunkumar “I like you aunty, I am going to be your friend,” the four-year old declared with a beaming face. While I stood there gaping at the little boy, he must have sensed my confusion. He came close to me and said, “Your chappals have strawberries on it --...
How about a 365-days’ vacation from everything?
By Priya Arunkumar What if you get a 365-days’ break from all daily routines; a total break from what you like and hate the most? I was also in the audience when the self-help coach posed this question to the crowd. Although the idea was quite enticing and the concept...
No more bright eyed and bushy tailed
By Priya Arunkumar I am a morning person. I wake up at 5.30am every day. It is like clockwork. I don’t need an alarm. It doesn’t matter what time I sleep, where I sleep, how I sleep… I just wake up at 5.30am. And I have been waking up at this time in the last three to...
A ‘sweet’ life…
By Priya Arunkumar It was always a balancing act. A tough one to learn and master when you are just eight! A small strip of a banana leaf, or sometimes on a translucent sheet of paper, the melted hot ghee and the sliding, running, dancing scoop of hot halwa… the...
Live by the mobile – die by the mobile!
By Priya Arunkumar Live by the sword, die by the sword. Same way, live by the mobile, maybe die with it?! No, I don’t wish that to these mobile-wielding morons, no maniacs! Yet, they at least deserve a taste of their own medicine! Every day they wait, like birds of...
The masks we wear
By Priya Arunkumar Many years ago, someone who came in to our office for a meeting, with one of my colleagues, also happened to meet me, spoke to me for half an hour or so. And before walking away he dropped a mini bombshell: “What a ‘sweet, soft spoken’ person!” he...
Soul matters
By Priya Arunkumar “What is filled in our body? Spirit?” The little one was barely eight, so I figured that it would be an easy query to answer. Should I go the scientific or the spiritual way? Or should I try the philosophical way? No, the kid is too small to be...
Fight or flight?
By Priya Arunkumar Refusing to turn my back on darkness There was a time when I used to tiptoe backwards from the kitchen sink, back to the dining hall of my home in India. I would not dare turn my back at the eerie darkness of the night, which I feared would spill...