Small step big thought

  It was not a typical Monday morning in the life of Vijaya Raghavan, the petite 65 year old with the eyes of a hawk and the uncanny ability to smell something unusual from a mile away . And to say that something was up with Meenakshi mami would be an understatement . After all , the entire colony knew that Meenakshi Iyer was unable to get over the demise of her beloved aathakar . No matter how hard the other women in the colony tried to include her in their activities and social gatherings , she just did not budge from her vow of leading a life of a recluse . Grief did that to people and who could understand it better than Vijaya mami herself , whose sole progeny , Ramya, had gotten married to her colleague Aaron; yes you heard that right ! Ramya married her American colleague Aaron in San Francisco   in an infamous semi South Indian farce of a   wedding   to which Vijaya and her aathakar Raghavan mama had been invited as guests ! Vijaya understood grief like no...

  The pendulum swung from right to left and all the way back to the right generating the ubiquitous tick tock sound that is the hallmark of a clock; especially grandfather clocks that are such an integral part of old homes . Meenakshi looked at the clock, standing tall and occupying a place of pride in her drawing room   with an air of ennui, even as the voice in her head urged her to do something dramatic, like maybe push the prized heirloom of the clock down and watch it break to smithereens with a deafening noise . Meenakshi was bored in ways that she had never been for all the sixty five years of her life . Her job as a Commissioner of Income Tax for a good thirty five years until retirement left her feeling apprehensive about humanity at large , especially when it came to matters of money . The biggest saving grace in her life was her late husband , Sundaresan Iyer, god bless his soul , who made a career out of peddling whimsical dreams coupled with promises of a bright...

  The best part about history is that it gives a peek into life and times that were very different, but times that set stage for evolution of the society and of life, as we know it today . What if you found out one day that one of your ancestors left their own little mark in the annals of history ? History takes on a personal significance and what begins is a quest to understand the life and times of the said ancestor . A few days ago, one of my mother’s aunts , an eighty seven year old scientist, shared with her the information that she had painstakingly put together about her grandfather,Professor P Sampath Iyengar, a geologist from the erstwhile state of Mysore , who is credited with discovering Iron ore deposits in the Kudremukh region of the Western Ghats in the year 1913. Known to her only through anecdotes, for he passed away before her birth , what probably motivated her to research for more information on a man who was considered a legend by many , was the innate curiosity...

  Namita loved to travel . The one with   quintessential wheels on her feet, an eternally packed suitcase and a well used passport , Namita had traversed the length and breadth of the world . From the pyramids of Egypt to the Great Wall of China , from the Great Coral Reef to the Aurora Borealis , Namita had seen it all . The stamps on her passport were her souvenirs , for they reminded her of the lovely time she’d had in all her trips . It was only natural for Namita to choose a career that fuelled her life force ; the insatiable wanderlust and a craving for unusual experiences . She became a travel show host and began getting paid to do the thing she enjoyed doing the most -travelling and talking about it . Soon her show began to top the TRPs and she became a force to reckon with on National TV. Namita enjoyed collecting souvenirs from all of her travels and she had a penchant for collecting pretty unusual ones at that ; not the run of the mill t-shirts and keychains sold in...

  I have often heard this statement from many stakeholders ; Why is language so important in the context of neurodiversity ? Here we are , talking about a group that , for most part , has been misunderstood and marginalised. Many members of the community are routinely denied access to appropriate education and work opportunities and a quest for accommodations is perceived as a demand for some kind of a special treatment . Healthcare professionals tend to brush off many of our issues under the garb of sensory differences, often making us the favourite target population for weird and unscientific ‘diets, medications and therapies’ that promise miraculous relief and cure .   With so much at stake , shouldn't our focus be on   research to figure out ways and means to alleviate and work around some of these challenges, so that we can learn, work and live to the best of our ability ? Does language even matter in such a context ? I sat down to think about this and realised that ...