2019-06-02
While in India, I lived with a spiritual counselor for the Hare Krishna community. My host mom maintained a high senior status within the Pune ISKCON temple, as she was one of the first devotees in the city and helped erect the first Hare Krishna temple in Pune. She is well known throughout Pune and...
Read More2019-05-30
Roti, sabji, daal, chawal, papad, yogurt. A cultural fusion that I am most certainly here for Vrinda-devi, the goddess of Vrindavan, was carved from the same marble as the deities at the main ISKCON temple in Pune. She was gifted to my host mother to be cared for because the temple already had several deities....
Read More2019-05-30
MG road was one of the first places we visited as a cohort during our first week in India. It took me a long time to realize my host family’s proximity to MG road, but when I did, I came back often. And I returned today, which will most likely be the last time I...
Read More2019-03-07
I’m sitting outside watching my favorite neighborhood kid play with his toy. He’s three years old and throwing things. He always throws his toys at the watchmen and smiling passerbys. He climbs up the parking garages of neighboring buildings and throws plastic cricket bats onto the street. No one stops him, this neighborhood is his...
Read More2018-09-04
I’m on the plane from St. Louis to Oakland. My mom is asleep with a Kindle in her lap, the matte screen still displaying a romance novel. I challenge myself to read the Russian words on the screen, and curse myself every time my steady reading pace slows. I swear to myself I won't forget...
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