by Kalpana M. | Feb 28, 2018 | Desi Lens
In the late seventies, as my waist lost inches and my hips stretched a little more, I could have competed with Scarlett O’Hara. I believe I owned a 17-inch waist. Such observations, however, were wasted on Daddykins, my late father, who measured beauty by a formula....
by Kalpana M. | Dec 11, 2017 | Desi Lens
On the morning of my birthday this past October, I began reading the first few pages of the book, Oranges, by John McPhee. In the world of nonfiction, it’s a classic. A couple of lines jumped out at me as my eyes hopped over these words: “Citrus does not come true...
by Kalpana M. | Nov 8, 2017 | Desi Lens
Over thirty years ago on an afternoon in Chennai, when lizards crawled down pipes and crows danced on coconut trees, the tenant renting the apartment above our home tapped on the grilled door leading into our living room. I walked towards the door wondering if the man...
by Kalpana M. | Oct 15, 2017 | Desi Lens
At the time I got the news about the new indulgences of parents, I was drinking a nice cup of ginger chai which shot up my nose and burned my nasal passages. I’d just learned that many Indian-American parents had begun hiring college counselors the summer after their...
by Kalpana M. | Sep 5, 2017 | Desi Lens
The Silicon Valley is a bubble,” my daughter said when I tried to apply the logic of the valley to the rest of the country. My children live on the opposite coast and they have told me often that the Bay Area coddled and insulated us from most events that skewed the...
