Suja Sukhdev

  SILENCE PLEASE……… I escorted my friend to the doctor’s clinic made her comfortable and settled down beside her feeling relieved. We had finally made it despite the incessant rains.   I patted her hand trying to put her at ease and added a smile too.   She forced a smile and sighed.   So much was unsaid.   Sometimes, silence speaks more than a thousand words.   My eyes surveyed the room.  The ‘Silence please’ poster across the room caught my attention.  A common feature in most patient waiting rooms.  It seemed so appropriate and yet so discomforting at the same time. We are trained to be silent.  Silent in joy, silent in love, and silent in grief. All these occasions and many more don’t deserve silence.  It is this silence, that screams out the loudest.  We need to give an ear to this. Why is expression considered so unclassy? Is that the right word? We learned “ Silence is a virtue”.  Not always. Is silence not an...

  HOPELESSNESS TO HOPE …….. A JOURNEY As I watched the news on a particular channel, that ended with a good news story, my lips curled in a slight smile.  Hope, in these times, seemed rather alien a thought.  I pondered on these two words. Hope and Hopelessness. These words, I believe resonates with each one of us.  We find ourselves oscillating from one to the other many times in our lives.  Sometimes, many a time each day.  In this still new (although more than a year old now) covid situation, can we be blamed? After all, hope and hopelessness has never been alien to civilization. They have been a constant with humanity. From HOPELESSNESS to HOPE and vice-versa is a journey that all of us have taken time and again. These feelings walk together. Thanks to the uncertainties that we are facing today (It was always there, but not as much!) every situation seems overwhelming.   We seem to be taking this journey more often.   With no...

  HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY! 🤩🤩    A TRIBUTE.                 As I sat on that chair in the restaurant and looked at the ‘Poori Bhaji’ on my table, my eyes fell on the empty chair across the table.  My eyes stung with tears waiting for permission to flow.  I missed a friend (Meeting friends is a luxury now!). I instinctively glanced at my mobile hoping to see that ‘Cheers’  or a smiley that always put a sparkle in my smile.  Some people have that effect on you.  These are the special people whom you meet just by fate.  They come into your life out of nowhere and bring that different YOU to life.  These are friends that bring out that special YOU that even you were unaware of.  Their energy is infectious. They bring out the best in you.  This brings me to the topic of ‘ Friendship’. We will soon be celebrating ‘Friendship day’. How many are we left with, to celebrate? The year tha...

  MAY THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE…….. A birthday wish that came in belated, but stayed on my mind to come back every morning … I was thinking.  Adventures?  Yes, life has been an adventure, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Born a thin girl with large expressive eyes, that were amazed at everything around, always questioning and debating on every simple process that was accepted by normal people (Mom said I would become a lawyer!). My eyes saw things differently, I think that’s how the ADVENTURE began. Skipping on from a not so pretty, thin girl to a confident, beautiful girl in college (confirmed by the boys chasing) to this confident woman in her fifties (still chased!). An adventure it has been, that will continue till there is air in my lungs. Every journey taken has my heart and soul in it. Some unconventional ones, many might not understand. (Not that it mattered). Many started late but started and finished well.  Many more to be taken. Let me ass...

  THE MICROWAVE EFFECT>>>>…an observation.   At half-past 2.00, as I push the dish in the microwave to heat up food for myself, I wondered how much this little machine has changed our lives.  Food needs no longer be consumed fresh and we are perfectly happy with the assumption that microwaved food is healthy and doesn’t destroy the nutrients as reheating on a stove does (Back in our childhood days, even that was considered unhealthy, and the lady was labeled lazy!)  Now the lady is modern and stylish if the machine finds its place in her kitchen. Times have changed and how. I feel it rubbed off on our attitudes as well. We love the convenience of quick reheating and consumption of old stuff, justify it as time-saving and healthy. Nothing is lost. No wastage of food and time.  If you note carefully, the surface and periphery get heated first before the center/core. The warmth is on the surface and the periphery.  It takes time to reach th...

  Hey! A new chapter of life begins this July2021😀😀! Soon to be sweet 52. oops! I meant 25! (at heart). Blog writing! Talking out loud, the very conversations that I have with myself ever so quietly... I felt compelled to share my thoughts, I think it's high time!  Girl, you got to be crazy, that's what crept in!    Of course! I retorted back, I am a crab(Cancer!!). I got to be this crazy😀!   At 52 life seems to have just turned around say 180 degrees! That's why I say am 25.  Midway already, yet so much to do.. but this time around I am following my heart.  Wrong! I always did follow my heart.  This time I am finding time for myself.  Yeh,  that sounds better.  Nobody stopped me but myself. The family was first and still is(Cancer again!) But now got to live for my soul as well.  So started on this journey say a few months back, must be in Jan2021..when something in me cracked a little bit..and thank god, I heard it!...