The Sweet Spot

“My favorite was the aluminum colored dress which was glamorous enough to wear to the theater , which we randomly picked from the catalog , but later found it was the same our humorous neighbor with a mustache and smoldering eyes, living in the gray contemporary house, had been marveling about”. I feel liberated writing this sentence and not having to worry about my english teachers in India finding at least ten spelling mistakes! Each of the words in bold is spelled differently in India. Moving from English to American, I struggled with “aluminum”, still sometimes pronouncing the ‘i’ in “alumi n i um ”. But I gladly dropped the “me” from “program me ” or the “u” from “labo u r”. Switching the “re” in “met re ” made sense, and I was ecstatic that a P a ediatrician was officially spelled without the first “a”.  In America, it wasn’t just the language that is simplified. Names were simplified as well. At my first workplace I was introduced to Bill, Liz, Steve, Amy, a c

“Kya naam hai?” I could hear Mummy ask our cleaning lady’s little girl her name, in Hindi. I wasn’t surprised when the girl responded, as Mummy had this knack of carrying on a conversation in a universal language of love. Our cleaning lady was surprised. “Oh, your mom speaks Portuguese?” When I said no, she explained “Qual é o seu nome?” is how one asks in Portuguese, which sounded very similar in Hindi. Though that day the question was phonetically similar, on other occasions, despite a language barrier, Mummy never stopped herself from getting her point across. She always had a kind tone, and kind words, wrapped in love, that everyone understood! Of the umpteen values I learned from my second mother for the last almost-thirty years, the one I covet most is to be kind rather than right. Among a family of obsessive arguers, she was the calm one to cool down a heated argument. Though she was right many times, she never felt the need to say “I told you so”. She was never the one

I was starting to become very impatient, with the never-ending grown-up conversation over tea and savory snacks. I was probably six or seven years old and had accompanied my grandmother to visit my Aunty’s parents. In the house full of senior citizens my attraction was the chessmen I had seen Anna (pronounced u-nna) , my Aunt's father, play with the last time we had briefly stopped by at their place. So this time when my grandmother asked me if I would like to join her, I jumped at the idea. The beautifully moulded coins - the king, horses, castles, soldiers - were so fascinating, that it did not matter I would not have any human playmates. Once there, I had looked around the room we were in, and sneaked to other rooms looking for the box of chess coins, but could not find them anywhere. Finally I mustered enough courage to ask, but did not know what they were called. Eventually the description of the tiny horses and castles led me to that day’s prized possession! I

“Little Women” movie was out in theaters! It was a very special moment for me for multiple reasons. The novel “Little Women”, by Louisa May Alcott, on which the movie is based, was the first novel I ever read. I was in fifth grade then, and very impressionable, and had found the book, written almost a hundred years before my birth, to be quite progressive. It was inspiring to see that the girls in the book all had dreams and interests and talents that they followed passionately.  I recollected a lot of that novel despite having read the book so long ago. I was excited to see how they picturized it, and wasn’t disappointed. Another reason the movie was special was  because it was filmed in the area that we have lived for the past several years, in Concord, Massachusetts, where it was kind of based in the novel to begin with. While watching the movie as an adult, I reconnected with my reflections as a child, filling in the blanks of questions left unanswered or “aha!” mom

While walking my dog around the neighborhood, an unusual looking object caught my eye. It could have been an Easter egg considering it was around that time. Though the shape wasn’t exactly right for an egg. Curiosity got the better of me, and I knew the neighbor well, so I stepped closer into their yard to examine the intriguing object. It was a smooth flat rock covered with some fun art and an uplifting message. “Paint your worries with Happiness”. It instantly brought a smile to my face. I remembered a conversation on our community chat group about how a group of girls, let me call them the Rocking Fairies, were painting these rocks and leaving them in yards for people to find them. They call the rocks the kindness rocks. In a world full of gloom and doom and worry, what a beautiful way to make someone’s day! A small rock brought a big smile on my face, wiped my worries for a little while, and changed my mood. It relaxed the muscles on my face and brought warmth to my heart.

Anyone who has ever wanted to make a good time on a long distance road trip must have encountered the “Pacesetter Companion”. This is that one car which speeds up behind you when you are in the fastest lane, possibly tail-gates you, and if you maintain speed, accompanies you until your next rest stop. You make way for them, but you keep pace behind them. And as you both maneuver the highway traffic, sometimes you stay ahead, sometimes they catch-up and overtake. Both have the same goal, possibly the same destination. Total strangers, they keep you company and help you set pace until you part ways. This past February, I was faced with a challenge. In the middle of winter, I was to drive my daughter’s car 1200 miles, from Iowa to Boston. There would be two of us driving, but I was looking at myself as the primary driver, as my daughter was a reasonably new driver. For many people it is like “meh”. For me it was a challenge! We had done many road trips before, but I had never b

I recently read a post by a doctor which said the best help from all us non-essential workers would be to stay home and follow precautions as best as we can, and try our best to stay healthy for as long as we can. Our goal is to not overwhelm the healthcare infrastructure, and inundate the frontline heroes, who are already working on a war-footing. The idea is to flatten the curve, by self-isolation, quarantine and social distancing. We all have read or heard this message hundreds, if not thousands, of time in the past several weeks. I am writing about it again.  I am a proud Indori (for those who don’t know, Indori refers to a person of Indore origin; Indore is a city in central India). When I see the work done progressively by Indorians to retain the title of “The Cleanest City in India”, not once, but four years in a row, it makes me proud! Today it was disappointing to see Indore in the news again - a footage of some miscreants, or maybe some misled people, pelting stone

The grocery store was out of ginger root today. Usually ginger is a grocery item I can safely find in abundance, always filling up its designated area to capacity. On regular days, it seems like I am the only one stuffing my produce bag with four or five large roots. Ginger is an essential ingredient in Indian cooking. And those fond of the real Indian chai (tea) won't have it without a generous helping of ginger; it is known to fight colds and coughs and is supposed to bring warmth. I wasn’t surprised that today, with everyone guarding against COVID-19, the produce aisle which normally carries ginger was full of artichokes. If stores could be out of toilet paper, being out of ginger made way more sense. The sudden popularity of this root, which is such an integral part of my Indian roots, started me thinking of my roots. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I sit here, about 7500 miles away, across most of the Atlantic ocean, Europe and the middle-east, concerned abou

A Treasure in the heart of Burlington “The Treasury”  announced its grand opening on March 1st, 2020. For many, it is yet another Indian fine-dining experience. Though for me, the announcement meant the culmination of the never ending wait to experience the culinary masterpieces we were anticipating... ever since we first heard about a fine-dining restaurant, many many months ago. “The Treasury” has been a dream for its founders, Archana & Prakash Khot and Sujata & Devendra Patil, to bring a unique fine-dining experience in the Greater Boston area, and boy, have they delivered!!! It took its time opening, but like  every project that requires perfection, these partners did whatever it took to plow through the hurdles to bring to us foodies, what they had promised to themselves. The restaurant is opening in the Wayside Mall in Burlington, MA. When I first approached it, I was pleasantly surprised to see an entrance with two doors- one that opens to a trendy casual sea