Telemarketing Text Messages

I’ve been in Delhi for almost two months now, and one of the things that fascinates me the most is the barrage of unsolicited marketing text messages I receive almost daily.

I have been offered lucrative “PLOTS” of all kinds in all sorts of places at all types of prices. I get an offer for a full body massage at Moksha Spa almost everyday, and my own cell phone company sends me at least five absolutely unnecessary text messages a week (the latest was about taking my child under five to get polio drops).Continue reading “Telemarketing Text Messages”

Papa

5 years ago I got a message in the middle of the night. It was not good news.

I had never lost someone close to me (at 28 that made me pretty lucky), and the grief was surprising in it’s intensity. We all called him Papa: my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My Grandfather had been called that for as long as I can remember.Continue reading “Papa”

New Year’s Eve & My Silly Superstitions

photo-7

I have this crazy superstition that the way I spend New Year’s Eve, dictates how my year will go. It has happened a few times, so it has sort of stuck with me through the years.

On New Year’s Eve 2007, my friend Tandi and I roamed the streets of Manhattan all night, avoiding creepy strangers, bursting into giggles at the slightest provocation, searching for the bar of all bars (as defined by Tandi): Double Happiness.

Continue reading “New Year’s Eve & My Silly Superstitions”

Thoughts on Delhi

1463928_10100158793438825_1232105150_nWalking up the stairs to work today, I smelled that spicy smell of burning wood, which reminded me of the Delhi winters of my childhood. I have been back for a little over a month now (permanently) and I often have moments like this – where the smallest thing feels oddly familiar, an un-spooky déjà vu because the memory if you can call it that is little more than a distant feeling, a long lost friend whose name I cannot quite remember.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Delhi”

A Little Inconvenience

I’ve been in Delhi for about a month now. As I write this, a stray ant crawls across the floor of my bedroom. I barely notice them anymore; they are now a part of my daily existence. Two or three grace my shower every morning. I try not to kill them but there is no way to warn an ant that they are about to be drowned, so I’ve had my share of casualties (sorry).

Speaking of showers, I know we are lucky to have water through my mother’s very persistent pursuit of the water company. We got water just in time to not move out of our house for a few days.

The power will go off between three and five times each day, but this is also okay. The generators are much better than they were when I was a kid and now run air-conditioning. Back then, the outages were longer, and in June when it was 42 degrees Celsius outside, the only thing we could do was lie still because moving just made you hotter. Continue reading “A Little Inconvenience”

Thoughts on Failure

Failure is defined by the Mirriam-Webster dictionary as “omission of occurrence or performance” (specifically a duty or action), “a state of inability to perform a normal function” or “a fracturing or giving way under stress”.

It has a few other definitions involving bankruptcy, deterioration and the very profound “one that has failed”, but I’d like to take a moment to consider the first few meanings. Continue reading “Thoughts on Failure”

Worth Reading

I don’t reblog a lot – but I think this is worth it!

Read the original first here: http://readherenotthere.tumblr.com/post/26566157508/roots-of-gang-crime-absentee-black-fathers-ensure

johngorman's avatarEndless Parade

Lorrie_Goldstein

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with Lorrie Goldstein. That’s fine. We’re not here to skewer his career.

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with gang violence in Canada’s largest city. That’s fine. We’re not here to skewer Toronto.

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the specifics of how the Toronto Sun commissions and crafts opinion columns. That’s fine, too. We’re not here to skewer The Sun.

We’re here to talk about this. We’re here to talk about a flaming pile of editorial panda-shit dropped by The Sun, showing a complete lack of education in pre-cursors for societal ills and also exhibiting scathing shreds of racism, sexism, xenophobia, bigotry, self-righteousness.

If you’re unfamiliar with how we do this, we basically ripped this idea off Fire Joe Morgan. So, I’ll be signing my $4 in royalties over to them immediately.

Italics are his words. The rest are mine. Let’s go:

View original post 2,314 more words

Chicken and Bok Choy Soup

I have the good fortune of having many friends that like to cook and are fairly creative. Practicing Bikram so regularly makes the food I eat that much more important – it needs to be nourishing and substantial yet not incredibly heavy. This soup was made up on the spot but turned out to be quite satisfying as a winter evening meal.Continue reading “Chicken and Bok Choy Soup”

Waiting

When you’re looking for work time morphs in such strange ways. Weekends seem long, dismal and never ending – because you know the chances of hearing from anyone are slim. Weekdays pass quickly and public holidays become this irritating inconvenience instead of a day of to relax and unwind.

Every moment you are not doing something towards your future there is a twinge of guilt. Should you really be making social plans? Should you really be committing to anything other than your future? How long should you work before allowing yourself to take a break?

Of course once you find work you look back, disappointed that you didn’t take advantage of the time you had off to take care of irritating errands such as getting your passport, or renewing your driver’s license. You wish you had put the in-between hours to better use.

Sometimes we spend too much time waiting. Waiting for our lives to begin, waiting till we get the perfect job or outfit or significant other. We don’t take advantage of our each and every waking moment. Life is short and each second you waste thinking about what could be, is wasting what is right in front of you: the present and all that it has to offer.

One of my resolutions this year is to stop waiting. There is nothing wrong with looking forward to your future. But I want to avoid looking back with regret. When all those things you are excited for to come to be, there will just be other things you are waiting for. And you may well waste that time looking ahead or looking back rather than just being present and enjoying it.

Just a thought for the beginning of the post-family day workweek.