RELATIONSHIPS: COLUMNS AND STORIES
Relationships
My life is a web of relationships. The great Indian joint family.
Messy, loving, crazy, contradictory, complex, never easy
But it defines who I am and what I value.
Connections: between people, place and time.
Do relationships make you or do you make them?
With love comes the ability to forgive. Only if you are able to forgive can you overlook slights, flaws, mistakes and miscommunication
While the Dalai Lama talks about loving-kindness meditation as a way to bridge divides, it is essentially about assuming goodwill.
Relationships are defined by connection
Connections can happen perchance but require care to flourish. Ultimately, it is these connections that define the human experience.
This web of connections floats to the surface in cultures such as India, where people are forced into proximity, thanks to density. What you do with (and to) the people around you defines character.
How you behave in times of stress depends on how you value what is at hand.
Relationships and connections are supreme in the path to happiness.
Relationship columns
Idealism and Love
My latest My Life column for The National's M magazine Shoba Narayan on idealising your spouse Shoba Narayan Mar 29, 2012 After 20 years of marriage, I am no longer the dewy-eyed newlywed who believes her husband can do no [...]
On Wisdom
This one is for you, Ma. And thanks, Sujata, for sending out the study. Intelligence versus wisdom, and humility comes out on top Shoba Narayan Aug 21, 2012 Does intelligence have anything to do with happiness? Or is it that [...]
About aging
Some articles I agonize over. Some are a gift from the muse. This one was the latter. I dashed it off in half hour in the midst of hectic activity. Click here for the piece Life's grandest challenge: watching those [...]
Mothers and Daughters
I love writing for The National. It is hard for my family to access-- certainly for my kids-- so it is easy to be open. This one is a piece on a topic that is so close to my heart [...]
Father’s Day
I am in large part-- my father. As a child, they say I looked like him. I have his metabolism and constitution. He belongs to the astrological star, Swati, which they say, has a personality called "sabdeekam" or softness. This [...]
How to talk to elders: game their wisdom and learn from it
What is your strategy when you meet elders; those uncles you encounter at weddings? You sit with them, chat desultorily about their prostate, how hot Mumbai has become, and maybe reminisce about the ancestral home or village. The conversation ends abruptly after 5 minutes; and then both parties, with relief, turn to their devices.