January 22, 2020
If you want to know one thing about our mom, it’s this, she loves holidays and festivals. She goes all out. We grew up celebrating many holidays and traditions from around the world. Maggie mom wanted us to understand our Hindu roots so we celebrate Holi, Dashain, and Tihar and every other festival under the sun. There are a lot of festivals in Nepali culture. It was also important to her to celebrate a few traditions from her own childhood. Have you ever seen Halloween at our house? Mom turns the entire house into a haunted house and we go trick or treating room to room. It’s the spookiest thing you’ve ever seen and oh so much fun. I think the neighbors think we must be a little crazy.
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October 13, 2019
My conversation with my older children now mostly happen over text and Facebook messenger. They are scattered across time zones and cities. They are taking board exams and entrance exams and licensing exams. They are becoming people in the world: with jobs, dorm rooms, and apartments of their own. They drive. Three are applying to college. 12 are in college. They are definitely all making up for the fact that I have yet to go.
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September 17, 2019
"She is my granddaughter. I have looked after her since she was 9 months old. I am her mother and I am her father. 'What happened?', you will ask. My daughter became a widow not long after marriage. It must have been her bad fate. Without a husband, she might have felt lonely. She found another man who was willing to love her and give her company. So she eloped with him. When she did, she left her daughter with me."
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September 16, 2019
"I do not remember father. I was too young to remember when he died. But I have memories of mother. During those times when someone was sick, it was normal to summon the Dhamis and Jhankris before taking them to the doctor. There were no doctors and even if there were, they were far away in the district. I was 9 when Mother died. I was a herder spending most of my time in high altitudes with the cows, buffaloes, and goats. Not long after mother died, my elder brother died too."
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June 16, 2019
When I was six years old, I asked my mother for money to buy toys at the local fair. Instead of responding, she hugged me and cried. That was the first time I understood how poor we were. I felt bad, and pretended I didn't want to go to the fair anymore.
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