Rekha's Ramblings

  Next week, I am flying back home, to India. And as much as I love to travel, I do not like flying.   It’s not just a mild dislike—it’s a genuine dread. Nearly 30 years ago, I got on a plane to come to the US, eventually making it our home. But it also set the stage for a lifetime of back-and-forth journeys to visit family, most of our family still lives in India including parents. Flying is unavoidable now, no matter how much I wish otherwise. A majority of the time, we plan these trips months in advance but have also flown at a day's notice.  Thirty years ago, though, things were different. There were no nonstop flights between the U.S. and India. And even though a trip like that involved multiple stops, layovers, and logistical challenges, it wasn’t such a hassle. It was pre 9/11. Now, we are simply used to it. That’s just the way. A few years ago, they started offering nonstop flights from the US to India. Flights from JFK, New York to Delhi or Mumbai in 15...

  Just because you fit in doesn’t mean you are in the right place. I read this on a friend’s wall, and it was an epiphany moment. Wow.   I had never looked at it this way before. For a long time, like so many others before me, I tried to fit in. I thought blending in, adjusting a little here, a little there meant belonging. And Sure, there were a few moments when I felt I had cracked that code and belonged to the group, but alas, the happiness was momentary, fleeting. But in those moments when I thought I had succeeded, something felt off.   I wasn’t genuinely happy. Deep inside, there was no sense of belonging, calm or contentment. I found myself wanting to leave as soon as I had arrived, constantly glancing at my watch, feeling suffocated. It took me a long time to understand why. The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t fit in; it was that I was trying to fit in at the wrong places, at tables where I had no seat. I stumbled upon another quote yesterday and it w...

It's Friday and that means it's a day to ramble.  Today's topic is books. It's going to be in two parts.  Part 2 What have you been reading? Do you have a favorite genre of books?  I usually read thrillers, the only way to get a dose of an adventure I can't get in real life. Anyways, last year, I went out of my comfort zone and read a few books from other genres. And one of the books that stayed with me more than the others was," The last green valley" by Mark Sullivan.  I picked it up from outside the gym, from the little free library just because I liked the cover. I did not know anything about the story but when I saw the cover, the picture on the cover  looked familiar. I felt like I had been there. I had seen this scene in real life and that too not long ago. And then when I read the preface, I knew I had indeed been there. The story is fiction inspired by true events. It's a story of the suffering of one family spanning from the a...

  It's Friday and that means it's a day to ramble. Today's topic is books. It's going to be in two parts. Part 1 What have you been reading? Do you have a favorite genre of books? I do, I love thrillers, crime, spy, courtroom dramas, adventure. Once upon a time, I used to be an avid reader. Then life got in the way, work, motherhood. I still read but not as much, may be one book a month. Surprisingly, last year, I read more books than I have in a long while. Plus I went out of my box and gave other genre a chance. I read "the island of Sea women" because my friend asked me to. I'm glad I did, I wouldn't otherwise know about a tribe of such strong women and the matriarchal society of Jeju island in South Korea. I read "yes, no, may be so", an young adult book as per my daughter's suggestion. I used to read a children's book to them by the same name and that phrase has stuck with us and often ask them that question after asking them a q...