23rd August 2020 Dear Anand, Not all goodbyes we get to say. Sometimes we miss our colleague’s farewells, don’t realise our favourite cafe in town has closed down, run away from home in the middle of the night, don’t make peace with a dying loved one. In hospitals around the world right now there are some patients taking slow, halting breaths in intensive care units … Continue reading 23rd August 2020 | Dear Anand
I was squeezing one last (alright one of the 5 last) Christmas shopping run in-between lunch last Monday and had dashed into a Woolworths near work to see if they had the salted almonds that the Woolies near my house had run out of. I mean it’d make life easier if everyone liked the same things but one parent of mine likes almonds and another … Continue reading Magic
When Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret in season 3 finale of The Crown turns in bed from her young fling, there is a moment when the camera pans on her face that rather sharply got caught in my chest. I’m not sure whether the 2 glasses of rosé I was down that night or my 2nd day periods had something to add to the … Continue reading Unfinished
Nothing more nerve grating than listening to a co-worker talk about what all their kids got up to in school first thing in the morning especially if it’s before you’ve finished your coffee. I usually try to smile and make appropriate cooing sounds (like an awww…but I can’t seem to yet master the art of awwwing yet) before zoning out. Though last Thursday I horned … Continue reading Sacrifice
This past week has been a bit of a face-palm kind. But the kind that causes deep migraine throbs through the sections of your brain you’d rather kept shut. Two things this week. One the public holiday last Monday to mark Fiji’s Constitution Day (something only a few countries in the world observe) and a vigil organised in Suva to remember women lost to domestic … Continue reading Constitution Day
This week it was in the middle of a meeting when it snuck up on me. Somewhere in between the variance tab and the actual spend and the budget columns, the word “Forecast” rolled off someone’s tongue right into the pit of my stomach. If there ever is a word I absolutely detest, it is ‘forecast’. I even hate the shop named Forecast ‘cause nothing … Continue reading Forecast
There was a time when going to comedy shows meant having the luxury to leave your brain at home for a light, carefree evening. But between Gadsby’s Nanette and Ansari’s Right Now, stand ups no longer provide a tax-free zone for our overloaded gray matters. And when it is the comedians of the world who are making the most global sense at this present time, … Continue reading Normal
It was a hyperventilating work colleague cc-ed on my email who with her hand on her chest pointed out to the ‘tone’ of it. An email I shot off right after a major stakeholder meeting to reiterate it was Sue (not me) who had dropped the ball on the project. Realising I was genuinely baffled, she mansplained (to the construction manager in me) that it … Continue reading Tone
Where is Shyamni? 