Naatil Evideya?

Is there a wrong answer to the mandatory question 'Naatil evideya?' (where in Kerala are you from) that one Malayali asks another Malayali when they run into each for the first time, in another part of the country? If you're from Trivandrum or born and brought up there, like I am, you may know what I'm...

BYOB

Our love story is pretty simple. Sharan commented on my blog. I commented on his blog. We got married and stopped updating our blogs.  We were in very different places — physically and mentally — when we met. Sharan was in Delhi, emotionally well-settled, and ready to get married when he found a good match.  In...

Girls Whistling

For a couple of years, before he was transferred out of Trivandrum, Achan used to pick Gingi and me up from school on his way back home after work. One evening - I must have been in 4th or 5th standard then - I was waiting for Achan in the company of my batchmate, Amina. Now,...

The Ponmudi Trip

Part 1: Tea and Snakes The little hill station of Ponmudi is around 57 km from Trivandrum city, which means I've inevitably found myself running along its misty, grassy slopes on many a Christmas or Onam vacation as a kid and as an adult. I was seven when my parents took me there for the...

The House of ‘The Poocha’

To be completely honest, it would only be partially true if I said that Kandan paved the whole path to fearless furniture destruction and free indulgence in other feline fancies for future generations of cats in my family. Because many freedoms are not given. They are claimed by biting, scratching, and farting on the oppressor's...

The House of Kandan

I was a little scandalised yesterday when I realised that Onam was just around the corner and I had no clue. After I looked up the dates and Aparna Giri reminded me to plan my leave, I started thinking about my favourite Onam story like I do every year. My parents are not big on...

Music and Memory Wormholes

Over the past few years, my fondness for the absence of music grew quite deeper than I anticipated. I do listen to most things that fall behind, between, and beyond Bohemian Rhapsody and My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard. But it's mostly a background process even when there is nothing running in the foreground. Somehow,...

In Memoriam: The National Museum of Natural History

Every year the Class Teacher would invite articles for the school magazine. For the longest time none of mine were published. Finally, Gingi obliged to write a poem for me. It went like this, I have a puppy She is very chubby Her name is Cutie She is a real beauty Playing with her is a...

Conversations in the Car

When you belong to a family that keeps road-tripping together all the time (even if it is to the nearby Jockey store), some of the insightful conversations that bring us closer happen in the car. And sometimes, the silent breaks are just as unifying. The Naked Ape The other day, while navigating through Karamana, I...

Good Old Days

Do you remember the good old days when young(er) adults used to roll their eyes at unsolicited advice? Like when adult-er adults used to remind them that they’re in their twenties or even worse, late twenties, and that they should probably get married, and then went on to give well-intended career tips and pointers. Apparently not,...