In Which We Decide to Go On a Six-Month Honeymoon Backpacking Adventure Through India In 2004, Sona and Navdeep met. In 2005, we got married. For the first time. In a secret wedding in Vegas, just the two of us….
That Time My 75-year-old Dad Spent All of His Vacation Time in Puerto Rico Reading, “Tiny Pretty Things”
On Tuesday, the first Cake Literary project, Tiny Pretty Things, officially had its book launch (May 26!) and it has been a blur since. It’s hard to believe it’s only been three days! The novel is no longer an abstract idea,…
Travel Notes from Our Flight to Puerto Rico: We Have Arrived!
It’s evening. Kavya’s packing list has been made: swimming costume, salsa dancing clothes, water bottles, chocolate, and you can’t go to Puerto Rico without packing party shoes. No idea what the hell #2 is. The Punjabi she wrote says Dadi and…
Hot Lava! A Doorless Helicopter Tour of Kilauea Volcano, Big Island, Hawaii
This morning I wake up to the news that Kīlauea Volcano on Big Island is erupting. Towns are being evacuated, videos show bright red lava spilling onto highways, grassy areas, and the governor is requesting national emergency status. My immediate…
Photo Friday: An Ode to Chai
Sona is mad about chai. It could be 100 degree weather outside, she will choose kadak, masala chai over a cool lemonade. Aromatic fennel seeds, cardamom, ginger, the pungency of loose-leaf Yellow Label or Wagh Bakri tea wafting through the…
Papa and Kavya Fly to California. Hell Does Not Break Loose
We are a family of elbows, feet, and arms. We lean across each other, pressing our bodies in, just so we can all look out the window at fog, blackness, clouds, blue skies, starry nights, bright sunlight, cityscapes, sunsets and sunrises. It doesn’t really matter what’s outside. As long as it’s something we can all see together. This summer, the house is divided. It’s just the two of us. Me and Kavya, our first ever Papa-Daughter flight from Newark to San Jose via Atlanta. All in all slightly under 8 hours.
Eat This Page: British Blueberry Lemon Scones, Innit.
Scones. It couldn’t be anything else this morning. I wake up to the sounds of pitter patter on the air-conditioner, whose arse hangs outside the window. The first definitive indication that it’s raining. Most people would grumble because of rain…
Photo Friday: Sona On Top Of The World in Hawaii
This is how we spent Christmas in Hawaii, soaring above the blue of the ocean. This year will probably be a little different . . .
Denying Disney: Why I Resisted Our Turkey Day Trip
I don’t mean to be Scrooge. Really, I don’t. But the timing was never right for me on Disney. Not then. Not now. When Meena, Tarun and I were young, we’d beg to go. Dopey the Dwarf was my favorite…
Date Night in Union Square, Where We Discover the Lost Art of Sitting Down and Doing Nothing
Whenever we’ve had the occasional date night, it’s usually been for some specific event in the City, and it’s always family we trust who has watched Kavya: her Massi in Manhattan. Sona’s parents in New Jersey. So when Sona bought…
Foto Friday: Lucy, the Elephant’s Bum Everyone!
Over the summer, we were driving up to Atlantic City one weekend to go hang out at the beach and eat some epic Pho when Kavya started talking about bottoms. I don’t know what they’re teaching her at this daycare…
Cocoa Loco, Or: The Hunt for Hot Chocolate at Revel in Atlantic City
“Mama, can I have some hot cocoa?” Bleary-eyed but happy, Kavya spoke those words to me just as I was about to sneak out to grab some coffee. It was 8 a.m., and we were on holiday. We’d taken Kavya down…
