Family
My Family’s Relationship with the Unseen
Maybe my dreams were trying to tell me something. Maybe I had what I liked to call, jokingly, “the ElGenaidi Gift.”
Smoky & Jack, the One-Woman Dogs
Is it as eerie as I think it is, this mirroring: the one-woman dogs; the girl babies who come too early, too small?
Mourning My Dad and the Dog He Never Wanted
If I could save her, I would. I needed to feel that it was in my power to save her, to save something. I didn’t need her to be uncomplicated. I didn’t need a good dog. I needed her.
My Journey from “Spare Parent” to Stepparent
If there was one thing I was clearly not cut out for, it was being a stepmom.
How My Mother Protected Us from My Father and Found Solace in Art
My mother described the Rembrandt paintings as her friends. I’d never heard anyone talk about art that way, instilling it with something like a personhood of its own.
Wherever the Limdi Grows: Growing Up Gujarati in Southern California
I deliberately and obstinately use the word ‘limdi’ and not the term ‘curry leaf’ because the word ‘curry’ has always bothered me.
My Father Lives in Me: On the Lion King, Grief, and Resemblance
“My father, was alive, in me—in my reflection, in my voice, in my posture.”
Songs and Stories to Keep the Ghosts at Bay
We all have them, those unmet needs or wishes from our own childhood, the painful bits that creep in and affect how we parent.
You Were Never Home for Long
On Friday, April 22, 2016, three months after my brother’s third release from S. Wilder Youth Development Center, he was rushed to the ER after being shot in the heart.
One Sister Sees X, the Other Sees Y
There are times I envy art’s effectiveness in a bilingual context, its ability to transcend language.