Rashmi's Space

Simi was running late. School would let out in ten minutes and she was nowhere near it yet! She was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel praying for the signal to change soon when her phone rang. It was her Dad. That surprised her; as her parents knew most of her schedule and this wasn’t their usual time to call. But even before Simi could decide whether she should pick up the call, the signal changed. Later that day, after Simi had picked up her son, ran a couple of errands and taken a scheduled client call; she was just about to settle down on the couch with a cool glass of water when her phone pinged. On checking it, she was surprised to see five missed calls and several WhatsApp messages, all from her Dad! Worried and hoping that everything was alright with her parents, Simi called home. “Hi Dad, just saw your messages and your missed calls, everything alright?” she asked as soon as his phone was picked up. “Yes, yes, everything is alright. I just wanted ...

"Wow! This is so lovely! How do you draw it so well Amma?" Anshi asked, looking at the  rangoli with huge brown eyes that only a six year old could have. Simran looked at her daughter and smiled. Right now she was the centre of Anshi's world, she knew, and anything she did was amazing and too good in Anshi's eyes. Although she also knew that this would soon change. But right now, she was happy being the 'world's best Amma!'  Simran smiled and asked "You like it?" And then she beckoned her daughter, "Come here, why don't you help me with a bit of colour too? Would you like to do the green colour?" Needing no further invitation, Anshi jumped off the shoe-rack she was sitting on and started filling in the green colour right in the centre of the rangoli Simran had drawn.  Diwali was two days away and the school had shut for a week. Simran was only too happy to spend the festive time with her daughter. They had started...

Exams are done and it is now time for the summer to take over. With the impossibly high heat and the lack of enough company for outdoor play, most parents and children are looking forward to summer camps and places for children where they can indulge in indoor activities. With sky-high fees and the interactive, child friendly use of electronic media, many activity centres are only too happy to oblige us too..... Welcome to the 21st century summer vacations! Flashback  The year is somewhere in the 90's and schools have just let out for the summer vacations.