The formula for a birthday party (if you’re my Amma and her friends)
On April 24, my Amma turned another year older. This year was her third birthday during the pandemic, and thanks to vaccines and other precautionary measures, she was finally able to celebrate with her friends again. Over the years, I’ve been told by my Amma what she and her friends do for each other’s milestone…
Not made for your consumption
When I was younger, I would draw on the walls and furniture in my bedroom. One of my first memories was taking my mom’s bright red lipstick and smearing it on my dresser to replicate the dressers that I saw on HGTV. While I definitely got into trouble with my parents, the memory marks the…
What will I be?
Content warning: mention of suicide Fourteen-year-old me was an anxious wreck with a negative outlook on life and my future. Despite my pessimism, on the day of career matching, I was hopeful that my result would ease the stress I had about choosing a career. I thought I could use this as an opportunity to…
Feliz Día de las Madres
I love Mother’s Day. I love waking up Sunday morning to a plethora of Instagram posts from my friends dedicated to their moms and reading the beautiful tributes my mutuals write about their one and only. I love being left in awe when I come across pictures of my friends side by side with their…
Sparks
Coldplay’s “Sparks” first came out in 2000 with their debut studio album, Parachutes. I was extremely late to join in on the song’s acclaim. For years before, I had heard the song only in passing — a couple of times from my mother’s car radio, a dozen times through my Spotify recommendation playlists and maybe…
To Restitute
Sometimes readers are not ready for what we write, either because our words are too close to inside parts of them they haven’t touched — some call these parts “memories” — or because these words implicate them somewhere ugly inside the circles that our narratives trace. Sometimes our words name a thing for them that…
Graduation: a first-gen’s reflection
Surrealness. That is the word I’d use to describe graduation. Prior to the Ross School of Business commencement, I miraculously smiled for pictures in various spots at the Winter Garden reception, commemorating my achievements in a place that always instilled a sense of uneasiness. In the weeks leading up to the ceremonies, I’d told others…
Self-care can be a mindset, not an action
I have always been put off by the notion of self-care. I am not sure why. Maybe it is because the term has been co-opted by the beauty and wellness industry to sell skin products and gym memberships. Wellness, which centers around self-care, has morphed into a $1.5 trillion industry that caters to a predominantly…
My Amma’s Signature Dish
My Amma is the best cook I know. She can chop vegetables at lightning speed and flip chapatis using her bare hands. She’s memorized dozens of recipes and can make whatever I ask for on a whim. You can taste her love for food, which she learned from her own mother, in every dish she…
Reaching beyond the pages
There was a phase in my life when I spent more time living in books than in real life. I guess you could say I was a bit detached from reality, but that wasn’t always the case. Before books took hold of me, I wanted nothing to do with them. You see, since kindergarten, I’ve…
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