By Gurpreet Chawla I’m a member of an FB group on travel. One of its members recently posted: “Need someone to be with my father on his birthday in New Delhi. I can pay 5–8$ per hour for the time spent.” The FB post didn’t receive a positive response but sarcastic comments. Three days later,…
By Jasmit Khurana I had heard of psychotic disorders from my friends but I did not know how scary it is to experience one. Last night, I experienced one and it has left me shaken and scarred. I had come to India after eight years, and I was very excited to visit my childhood friend…
By Kunāl Majumder It’s 5:06 am on Christmas Eve. I’m here by my mother’s hospital bed, deciding on her next medication. Three days ago, I returned from an overseas trip to find that Maa hasn’t been well for days. She had to be rushed to the Emergency and then admitted due to high BP and…
By Gurpreet Chawla As a child, I lived in Delhi with my parents. My father’s elder brother and younger sister also lived in Delhi with their families. My grandparents lived in our hometown, Yamuna Nagar in Haryana with my father’s younger brother. My grandfather assisted in my Chacha’s business and would rarely come to Delhi….
By Ila Narayanan How do you deal with a father-in-law who is old, irritable, demanding and treats you like trash? Live with it? Reason it out? Wilt before his bullying? Fight it out? I have done all of these but I am none the wiser. My struggles leave me in tears at times, and in…
By Rudraansh Naitik My aunt, who had shifted to an apartment near our home after she lost her husband, turned 60 a couple of months back and we had a grand celebration to mark that milestone. A few days later, she called up my father to say that she was feeling unwell. My father took…
By Paramjit Singh For my 76-year-old father, the process of alienation from the family was slow and painful. He had worked at a public sector undertaking reaching a mid-level position before taking premature retirement. All through his life, he had been cheerful and energetic. He was the one who would insist on socialising. He loved…
By Abid Adil My mother had never liked hospitals, or doctors. In fact, she felt that they were there to simply scam the patients. She would avoid going to hospitals and even strongly discouraged us from a visit to the doctors. To most ailments, she would simply say that it would become alright over a…
By Adharv Chaitanya My mother died about five years back. It was quite sudden. She didn’t wake up from her sleep. Just like that she was gone. My father, now nearing 80, tried to cope with her demise. Things were more or less fine, till my father felt uneasy while having lunch one day. My…