“Need Doctor Vomit,” said Nikhil. He was at the kitchen island, hunched over his iPad as he articulated the words using the icons on his app. He looked ill. In fact, he had looked under the weather the previous evening and we had let him sleep in having called his transport office earlier in the morning to let them know…
Is it possible to lead a modern (or otherwise) existence without relating to the concept of time? Imagine waking up each day, not knowing or understanding what time it is, indeed what day, month, or the year. Perhaps a troglodyte could, but even he would have some inkling of the seasons when the juiciest berries abound or the seasons when…
As a young boy in elementary school, the end of the summer holidays heralded a familiar knot in my stomach. The anticipation of meeting my classmates after a long break was tempered by the twin nemeses of every schoolboy – homework, and exams. Fortunately, our son Nikhil does not seem to suffer from the same malady as me. It was…
Have you ever desired, indeed craved, something from the bottom of your heart? Have you talked about it night and day and asked, nay beseeched, only to have your requests fall on deaf ears? Have you single-handedly done everything in your power to possess it? After having done this, have you come tantalizingly close to your object of desire, only…
A few months ago, a family of cats took residence in our bookshelf. While the family itself is fairly reticent, a boisterous youngster emerges each day to entertain our son Nikhil with his various feline adventures before returning to the confines of the pages where he dwells when the books are put away. Entertaining Nikhil is a bit of a challenge. …
A year ago, I wrote a blog called “The Conversationalist” in which I chronicled our son Nikhil’s journey with his iPad. Nikhil is a special needs child and is non-verbal and the iPad serves as his communication device. When I wrote that blog, little did we realize that Nikhil would spend much of the year at home due to the…
It is the second day of school for Nikhil. After six months at home and online classes in the summer, Nikhil is perplexed to find himself still attending online classes. Each night, he has been asking hopefully (via his iPad) “School tomorrow?” only to be told, “Sorry, Nikhil, no school”. Even though Nikhil’s school has opened and his teachers and…
We all have our bedtime rituals whether we are aware of them or not. Some rituals are passed down to us and we don’t know their origin but once in a way, we are witness to a ritual take root in front of us. One such ritual is our son Nikhil’s new bedtime ritual. But before I get to that,…
Do you remember the time your child learned a new word and surprised you by using it in the right context? We had many such opportunities with our daughter when she was a toddler. However, after the first few times, we took it for granted and given the normal trajectory of development, what started as a trickle of words soon…
Indulge me for a couple of minutes and picture yourself waking up each day, understanding what everyone around you is saying and conversing with them, only for them to not understand a word you say. You are not inebriated and you are not in a strange land, you are in fact at home and you are conversing with your family…