To The Children of The Girmityas When your great-grandparents had lived in coolie lines and your grandparents lived on leased lands that were taken away after a lifetime of toil on that soil. You can’t blame your parents if they didn’t exactly get the concept of home right. I’ve watched my parents build their house from nothing. I’ve seen many kinds of people on … Continue reading 24/24
We think ‘innovate’ and we think tech, shinny, advanced. I’ve spent so much of my adult life unlearning things I was taught as a young person that sometimes it feels like instead of progressing with the rest of the world, I’m constantly swirling in this same vortex. And I think it’s so important for us to educate each other especially women that innovation doesn’t necessarily … Continue reading 22/24
To My Sister Whom I Don’t Hear It’s selfish I know. That lately I actually don’t let you speak. That before you finish, I start talking about some other insignificancy. I don’t listen, you scream. That it’s not always about me, you scream. That I don’t understand you have things to get off your chest too, you scream. There’s something I’ve never told … Continue reading 21/24
There is no balance between grief and gratitude. No matter what they say about remaining thankful even in difficult times, I’ve found it is sheer impossible to practice any gratitude while your heart is breaking into infinite number of pieces. So let’s just stop kidding ourselves and let your grief consume you. Lie in your grief as long as you have to. Lie in that … Continue reading 20/24
Friendship is so much harder than love. With love there are no questions. It’s just sheer acceptance of everything you are. But friendship – it strips you. Layer after layer. It scoffs at your nervous inhibitions Laughs out loudly at your flaws Rolls it’s eyes at your trophies. When it’s done peeling you all the way to your core It’ll gather you up … Continue reading 19/24
I am so sorry that your mother didn’t tell you that a wife could be the road untravelled. That that adventure you’re seeking across the seas, in unknown cities could be a woman. I am so sorry that your mother couldn’t make you see that a wife could be more than pure milk. That she could just be the frothiest milkshake you’d … Continue reading 15/24
Your tribe isn’t always the brotherhood, fun times and safe spaces. Sometimes you are entwined to your tribe in a web of lies, buried secrets and dried blood. Sometimes the very people you are repelled by, the ones you pray you never become like, want nothing to do with, are the only ones you have faith in. To protect who you really … Continue reading 14/24
You know you’re healing when the thought of spending a cool Saturday afternoon alone at your local tapas cafe over a jug of chilled Sangria dreaming of crossing icy borders again fills you with such warmth that your stiff toes curl out in abrupt laughter. whereisshyamni@gmail.com Connect: Facebook, Twitter & Instagram Continue reading 13/24
I cannot remember the number of times I would arrive at my mother’s house and leave from the gate. Extra pairs of shoes at the front door always gave away her visitors. I could not bear the love in my mother’s eyes when she would hold my hand and pull me close to sit with her while I answered the same questions again & … Continue reading 12/24
Every time I get on a long-distance train My inner Simran steps in hope That this is the trip I’d meet the Raj of my dreams. I’ve ridden through mountains, lakes and deserts Jatin-Lalit on background score (through a USB!) My neck craning a little higher at every second bend. Seeking. Hoping. Waiting. And it has taken me my whole life to understand … Continue reading 8/24
Where is Shyamni? 