Reenita's Wisdom

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! [...]