Reenita's Wisdom

If you are like most people, then your new year probably started out with resolutions for trimming your waistline. A great intention but how committed are you? While most people have good intentions on January 1st, come mid month, they are all too willing to slip back into old patterns of comfort eating. This year, instead of training your belly, why not try training your mind instead?

Mindful eating is not rocket science.  In days when life was not all about TV dinners and eating on the go, people would actually have longer and more enjoyable meals that actually resulted in skinnier waistlines.  Think “French family dinners”  which are inevitably a social event. Traditionally, the focus has always been on the food and the wine. Well, it’s no Ayurvedic secret that focusing on food, aids digestion. [...]

This was originally written as a Mother’s Day special for the Times of India, May 9th 2010. Here is the original story, which I honestly prefer but if you are a die- hard TOI reader, you can find it online here.

Reenita and Ilya

Offering sympathy for dealing with my near-thirteen-year-old is akin to offering sympathy for the devil.

It’s a phase, everybody says, she’ll get through her teenage years.

Yes, but the question I ask on daily basis is will I get through it? On some level, Ilya has been going through “a phase” all her life! [...]

Just show up and be bridal, my mother advised. She had been planning this party for years, and would be damned if anyone interfered with what she saw as her ultimate moment of glory.


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Pushpalata Vij (1922-2010)

The Indic culture believes that each of us is named for a reason. Names are not a reflection of your parent’s whim but a symbolic reference of your life purpose. Rarely though in our frenzied existence, do we stop to think about the reason behind why we were named.

Last week, when my grandmother passed, I reflected on her name, Pushpalata.

Pushpa translates from Sanskrit as flower, and lata, a creeping vine. The former is easier to make sense of -  through the seasons of life, my grandmother’s garden embodied the florescence of beauty, purity and simplicity. More subtle however is the creeping vine; it grows out along the ground, rooting every so often to enhance the striking presence of other plants with its own understated yet beautiful border. This  was my grandmother, Pushpalata Vij. [...]