What is it with me and cleaning? I am not obsessive but I find cleaning to be very therapeutic. With everyone stuck at home, cleaning the house definitely requires more frequency. There are times I say “But I just cleaned the floor”. It is so easy for things to pile up and disappear from the… Continue reading Gratitude Day 28-Clarity

I am so grateful for the ability to teach from home during these uncertain times. Thanks to the internet and it’s far reaching connectivity that has enabled me to do this. I am so grateful that I am able to remain connected to the student community and continue my classes online. I am so grateful… Continue reading Gratitude Day 27

Every year we host Thanksgiving for friends who have become family over the years. It is usually a fun gathering, one our kids grew up with and look forward to every year. None of us eat turkey, so we are always experimenting with something else. We try to keep the food healthy and small in… Continue reading Gratitude Day 26 – Happy Thanksgiving

————————————————————— India was doing great with the pandemic already back in March- social distancing, hand washing, contact tracing were all in place. Esp. the state of Kerala. My home state. Other than a few pertinent visits in my hometown, we pretty much stayed put at home on our return back from Chennai. My parents and… Continue reading Gratitude Day 25 – Returning to the States

Meditation is a realm beyond identifications and words where time and space disappears. To have access into that space in our own organized busy egocentric heads is another story. But once you have access it is blissful to just be. Who wants the monkey mind when one can tap into stillness and silence? Although the… Continue reading Gratitude Day 24 – Turmoils and Respite

Even though the trek up was just a mile long, it was all uphill. We set out for Arunachalam after the morning meditation, rituals and breakfast. Our destination was Skandashramam and the Virupaksha caves. Half way between the top and bottom of the mountain hill Arunachalam, was Skandashramam at 3000 feet elevation. And to trek… Continue reading Gratitude Day 23 – The Trek to the Caves

We met up with my brother at Ramanashram in Thiruvannamalai. He had traveled there directly from Toronto. It was lovely to reunite as a family, my sister was missing and I wished she could have been with us too. The next few days flew by in a rush. It was a spiritual retreat of sorts,… Continue reading Gratitude Day 22- In and around Ramanashramam.

I hoped a skip and a hop would get us to Arunachalam. But it took an hours flight and nearly four hours in a taxi to get to Thiruvannamalai. We left Trivandrum in the early hours and we did not get to Thiruvannamalai till late afternoon. The first time I saw the mountain was a… Continue reading Gratitude Day 21 – Destination Arunachalam

March 9th was Attukal Pongala– a Hindu festival celebrated by women of Kerala. It is recorded to be the largest gathering of women anywhere in the world . And it happens to be in my hometown of Trivandrum. People travel from across the world to be part of this festival. During the ninth day of… Continue reading Gratitude Day 20- Attukal Pongala

Arriving in India in the early hours meant staying awake all day long so I could get past the jet lag and acclimatize to the Indian time zone. Jet lag drains me and as years pass it gets to be more and more difficult to recalibrate my system to a new time zone. So even… Continue reading Gratitude Day 19- Meeting Family