Posted inFirst Person
My Absent Abba
My Abba and I barely spoke. And while the lives of my friends’ fathers were not as complicated as my Abba’s, their memories of daddy-daughter conversations were limited too.
Posted inPOV
Why Do We Inherit the Worst Traits of Our Parents?
Growing up, I wanted to be nothing like my parents. I spent a significant part of my teenage years defining myself in opposition to my parents. Yet, over time, the very traits that I disliked about them slowly became my own – and that’s when I truly understood them.
Posted inPeople
Naseeruddin Shah: A father figure for all seasons
In Gehraiyaan, Naseeruddin Shah plays yet another version of the fatherly figure that has endeared him to a generation of viewers. His ability to embody both flaws and vulnerability, are traits that made me look for my own paa in him.
Posted inPOV
How choosing not to be a mother brought me closer to my father
Motherhood is so often expected to come as a natural choice to women. Almost a year into the pandemic, I realised it is not for me. Here's how I revealed my choice to my father. It only brought us closer.
Posted inModern Family
What It Means to Be “the Guy Who Wants Babies” in An Age Where Everyone is “Childfree By Choice”
I am a millennial who wants kids. There. I said it. I've had a case of baby fever since I first held my niece. This opens me up to ridicule from my friends and makes me appear like a “softie” on dates.
Posted inModern Family
My Parent’s Marriage Story: Would They Be Happier if They Separated?
If Marriage Story were to be remade in India, it’d be about two people who realise their differences yet act like nothing’s wrong, living in a black hole of loveless denial until death actually does them apart. A lot like my parents.
Posted inPeople
My Life of Onlyness
I was the stereotypical, pampered only child who never had to share his toys or his parents’ attention with anyone. It was the best thing in the world until my father died. Nothing made me feel the absence of a sibling more than my father’s untimely demise.
Posted inFashion
“Hair is Everything”: When Your Husband Has a Better Mop Than You
In our society, lustrous, supple strands still remain a source of pride for women. It even prompted the brilliant Maya Angelou to assert that “A woman’s hair is her glory.” But when what was once your crowning glory ends up getting relegated to the shadow of your husband’s, I must confess it does take some getting used to.
Posted inModern Family
Seeking the Individual Behind My Late Father
Our Parents, to us at least, rarely exist as individuals with their own concerns, anxieties and aspirations. But after my father passed away, peacefully, I reconnected and discovered different sides of him that most men, maybe, hide behind the image of the father figure. I’m glad he got to live those lives.
Posted inModern Family
Help Me! My Father is a Bhakt
I don’t recall my father ever displaying any obvious political preferences, but the turning point came during the 2014 Modi wave. Our mini flare-ups soon escalated into full-blown brawls, and conversations began to end the way they do on the internet, with me being labelled a naive Congi.