Love

May 30, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I like the L word, love. A happy, serotonin, feel good emotion. It’s nice to love, and be loved. And, it’s not just romantic love between lovers and married couples. It extends to the special love and affection that exist between parents and children and vice-versa, siblings, friends and even random people, who leave a […]

Praying and rituals

May 16, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum retracts her legs and covers her feet when she watches the images of gods on TV. She prays when she sees the ‘Thivarthanam’ or oil lamp/light offering to the deities. She does so each morning as she listens and watches Astro’s Channel 201 that features devotional songs, prayers and rituals conducted in temples […]

Routine

May 2, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

Routine works for me. It gives me structure and a certain order to my day. The order might vary, albeit very slightly, depending on the circumstance, but the activities are pretty much the same. And, they, mostly, get done each day. My days used to start with drinks of water. A check on my mum […]

Job search

March 21, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

Job shortage, minimum wage, living wage, skills mismatch, unemployed graduates, unemployment rate, underemployment, foreign workers, 3D or dirty, dangerous, difficult jobs and gig workers i.e., independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers and temporary workers [1] are issues/topics debated and deliberated frequently. The chatter made me rewind to my, long ago, job search. It was […]

Ticking time

February 28, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum is a stickler for time. A clock watcher. Even now. Ailing with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and heart failure, her days are influenced by time. She has clocks everywhere in her condominium. One large analogue clock by her bedside wall. Another digital facing her. Two large ones in the lounge and kitchen. She […]

How not to be sad

February 7, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I don’t have the answer or solution on how not to be sad. I’m sad. I know why. I just don’t know how to shake it off. I just thought of Taylor Swift’s song as I wrote that. And, her video. I smiled. I guess that’s one way of doing it. Shake it off. Switch […]

Saying goodbye

January 24, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I have to say goodbye to sister number 3 on Thursday. She arrived on Deepavali Eve. Changed her return flight from 21 Dec to 11 Jan. Changed it again to 27 Jan. After 2 months and 26 days she flies back to England. Her 90-day MyTravelPass visa expires on 1 Feb. I am sad now. […]

11 minutes

January 17, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

It was the longest 11 minutes of my life. My mum could not be aroused. Not by her palliative doctor, who thankfully was present at the time, for her weekly visit. Not by sister number 3. Not by me. My mum was a little under the weather the previous Sunday evening. Phlegm and cough. […]

Palliative care

December 27, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

‘Alert and chatty’ is how the palliative care doctor describes my mum, in her log book, after her weekly and sometimes bi-weekly home visit. Positive and encouraging words. Optimistic adjectives. Happily, also true. My mum is sharp witted and cheeky with her answers and responses to questions and queries posed by her palliative team. She […]

Live-in or stay-out

November 15, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

I never thought I’d have to resort to outside help for my mum. I prided myself on being able to care for her – when she needed it and for however long. Actually, that’s what sister number 4 and I had discussed on several occasions. We will take care of our mum, between us. Of […]