Old is not cool

April 22, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

I get it. Old is not cool. I was young once myself. I’m guilty of not giving much thought about older people. I didn’t know what they liked or needed. I can’t remember spending time with them. I didn’t have friends, who were older than me. Old people in my life were my parents, my […]

Being older

April 15, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum will be 91 this year. Every so often, she tells me she wants to go to her Tata or grandfather’s house. It’s a story she has created in her head. Part imagination and part memories. My mum’s Tata story has grown manifold since she first started talking about it when she became unwell […]

Present and past

January 15, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

My brain, sometimes, stops in the present. Preoccupied with life, and daily routines. It forgets how she was/used to be. Right up to August 2021, my mum was the queen of her condo/castle. She had a daily schedule. Up every morning at 5.30am. Complained about being late even before she began the day. A constant clock […]

A milestone birthday

September 25, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum turns 90 on Wednesday. She is the only 90-year old I know, up close and personal. None of my immediate family members got this far. My dad and my maternal grandmother left at 62. My paternal grandfather exited at 72 while my father-in-law passed on at 82, a distant contender. Kudos to my […]

Old is not gold

August 28, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

This August is two years since my mum fell ill. I’ve written a lot about her. Her recipes. Her life. Her stories. More recently, it has been about her ailments. Only because of how much it has changed my mum’s life. My dear mum’s Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), heart failure and kidney disease have deteriorated. […]

Making a call

March 27, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum had a scheduled home visit with her palliative doctor on Tuesday. It’s always only Dr Rose. This time there was Dr Carmen, who recently joined Beacon Hospital. And, nurse Ruth. She was present to do my mum’s blood test. A once every three-month arrangement. Dr Rose’s home visit routine starts with questions about […]

Storytelling

March 13, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum is a depository of stories. Sometimes a little unclear but mostly interesting. Her stories have given me precious glimpses into the various phases of her life. That said, there is one peculiar but still interesting story about two young girls, who visited her and played hide and seek in her condominium. She saw […]

Writing because…

February 27, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

I was in a bit of a quandary most of last week. I didn’t know what to write and post today. A few ideas/topics were jostling for space in my head. Most of them seemed oddly familiar. Very déjà vu’ish. No surprise there. I only write about stuff I think I know, and know I […]

Finding a caregiver

January 9, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

It was on 7 November, 2021 that I started emailing nursing and care homes. I remember the date. My husband and I were in Zenith Putrajaya for a 2-day holiday. Sister number 3 was home for Deepavali from England. She was caring for my mum. Fast forward to now. Or should I say after a […]

Half-siblings

November 14, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

My mum has been chattier of late. Sharing stories with sister number 3 and me. Some people, some events I was already familiar with. Some not. I knew my mum is the first born in the family of three girls. Her parents, my grandparents, were Tulasi and Sandrakasan. I also knew that my grandmother was […]