I read a New York Times news story about 120 degrees temperatures in India. And I see my mother, Aai, her face gaunt, her body emaciated. Take me away, she is begging. Take me someplace cool. Take me to a … Continue reading
In 2015, a writer named Dawn Dorland donated a kidney to an anonymous donor. She should have received accolades. Instead, another writer named Sonya Larson wrote a short story about it, titled The Kindest. Not a story depicting Dorland as … Continue reading
In Defense of Universal Human Rights BY SARITA SARVATE Some recent news items have made me wonder if we as a society are suffering from a kind of cultural schizophrenia. In one news story the decision to drop charges against … Continue reading
Aai and Dada in Delhi-1980 (1) Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, I have been thinking of my mother. If ever there was a person who was ready for an epidemic, it was my mother. She was the FDA … Continue reading
Until recently, American elections used to evoke in me, not angst, but wonder. When Bill Clinton ran for president, I watched The Man from Hope, a documentary about his life, over and over again, feeling inspired by the story of … Continue reading
It is said that we are currently living in the era of ‘Peak TV.’ ‘Peak TV’ as in ‘peak oil’, a concept developed in the 1950’s by industry experts who predicted that the production of petroleum would peak … Continue reading
My faith in the publishing industry began to erode the day I read Gone Girl, a book hyped as the thriller of the century, not to mention a feminist manifesto. With its violent, sadistic, and unbelievable narrator, was … Continue reading
How the dominoes have fallen. Ever since producer Harvey Weinstein was exposed as a sexual predator, the list of prominent men charged with sexual harassment has grown. Some of these men, like comedian Louis C.K., and actor Kevin Spacey, have … Continue reading
After spending a month in Catalonia, I returned to California in September even as the referendum took place there. Looking back, I marvel at my naiveté as I set off for a writers’ residency in the high Pyrenees in early … Continue reading
I have always had difficulty with Margaret Atwood’s writings, perhaps because her visions of the future are too dark. Listening to the audio version of The Blind Assassin, I got thoroughly confused. No surprise then that I hadn’t read her … Continue reading