I am not very good at making small talk with my mom. So much of it brushes against my switchboard of buttons dusty and bright: how I should have tried out for Jeopardy! or what …

I went to sleep at a reasonable hour, for once. My mother and I slept in the same bed -- the one in my room, since her bedroom seems to provoke my allergies. She isn't …

I know what'll make everything better: self-loathing!

I need to post at more length about the people and things that have kept me sane these past few weeks. The familiar, the distracting, the intellectual and olfactory hits direct to the pleasure centers …

At yesterday's service, several people spoke. My eulogy follows, then my sister Nandini's. I am Sumana Harihareswara. I am S.K. Harihareswara's younger daughter. I learned so much from my father and I'm only realizing some …

"Kaali" (empty) vs. "Ka(r)li" (a goddess of death). "Thali" (plate for food) vs. "tha(r)li" (necklace married women wear). The (r) here indicates just the slightest hint of an "r" before the L; linguists, feel free …

I sit in my father's old office, in the chair his typist used when he came every morning to take dictation (memoirs, articles, essays, books, email, whatever struck my father's fancy. We kept telling him …

First: I am wearing a lot of long tunic-drawstring pants-sash combination outfits here in India. Depending on where you are, you call them "pyjama juba" (whence comes the English word "pajama"), "salwar kameez," or "chudidhar." …

20th Century Kannada Poetry (Selections)Edited & Translated by Sumatheendra Nadig1983M. Gopalakrishna Adiga"A Common Man"p.59 How dare you call me Common Man; Your dadis common, in the company of my fatheryour grandfather and your great grandfather …

My father died on Thursday night of a massive heart attack. He'd just had dinner and was washing his hands when he slumped against the wall. He died very quickly in my mother's arms. He …