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The Double Game… And A Twist I Did Not See Coming

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  Where did my ideas spring from? From the double life I led. I would wear low cut dresses and mini leather skirts and go out in the evenings to the nightclubs where all the action took place.   Deepti Menon Where did my ideas spring from? From the double life I led. I would wear low cut dresses and mini leather skirts and go out in the evenings to the nightclubs where all the action took place. I had always had my own dreams. Dreams that haunted me during the day and broke into my sleep at night. I have no idea how they seeped into my mind, or from where they originated. All I knew was that marriage was not the top priority in my life. Like it was for Rukmani, who dropped out in the twelfth standard so that she could marry the first boy who came to ‘see’ her. Or Geethika who tumbled into the matrimonial rollercoaster to get away from her domineering parents, only to realise that she had exchanged the frying pan for the fire. I had always wanted to be a career woman. As a child, it see
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Was This Love Or Toxic Possessiveness?

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  “What you call love is actually possessiveness. You made all my decisions for me. I would probably be happier without you in my life,” Revant screamed!   Deepti Menon Revati’s life had changed when, after ten years of being an only child, her parents brought in a stranger into the house. She had looked at the young boy who had wide, frightened eyes, and she had fallen in love with him on sight. He was small-made and a lone tear hung below his eye as he looked around at the huge house with its crystal chandeliers and eye-catching artefacts. Ma had hugged him impulsively. “Come here, little one! Meet your sister, Revati!” Revati had also hugged him, even as he shrank away from them. He was painfully thin, and his shoulder blades stuck out in jagged points. “Are you hungry?” Revati had asked. He had nodded, and when she saw him devouring the thin chicken sandwiches, her heart had skipped a beat. This was her little baby, she vowed under her breath fiercely. She would protect him always.
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‘Where Have You Been, Nisha? Don’t You Know My Parents Are Coming For Dinner?’

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Rohan glanced at her moodily. “That was Dad. He read your interview. He wanted me to tell you not to get carried away. He reiterated that real men do not cook and clean.”   Deepti Menon   Nisha sighed irritably. The day had begun badly, and her brand-new husband had not tried to make it any better. They had returned from their honeymoon a week ago, and the roses and the champagne had already disappeared. They had known each other for only a month, with no time to talk or make any discoveries. After the honeymoon was over, she had realized that marriage was more than she had envisaged. Initially, Rohan’s colleagues had called them over for meals and taken good care of them. A week later, it was time to open their own kitchen, which was when Nisha woke up to the fact that the kitchen was her domain, and only hers, according to Rohan. Nisha sighed again. This was not what she had grown up with. Her Army parents had been ‘cool’ about men and women working together to make marriage work. Th
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Today’s Resolution Is Tomorrow’s Nightmare: Just Ask My Husband!

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  Resolutions are always top priority on New Year’s Day. However, there is one resolution that gets my husband’s goat is when I vow to— Clean, the entire house, and he begins to have nightmares of his important papers going missing!   Deepti Menon “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” Mark Twain Resolutions are always top priority on New Year’s Day. After a hectic shovelling of food into one’s interior across the  Christmas —New Year week,  it is time to think of the four-letter-word that looms in the horizon –  Diet . After celebration, comes guilt! Most resolutions are taken after the groaning and the moaning that appear once the binges are done – those sinful plum cakes oozing with rum, the deep-fried spring rolls, samosas and cutlets which accompany every meal. And of course, the divine menus replete with  chana bhatura ,  aloo parathas ,  gulab jamuns  and  malai koftas  that lead one straig
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How I Became The Director At Hari Sri School Founded By My Mother And Late Father!

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  Suddenly, a whole new world opened before me, and before I knew it, there I was, ensconced as her assistant at Hari Sri school, sitting by her, learning the ropes all over again.   Deepti Menon “Life does not come with a manual; it comes with a mother.” ~~  Author Unknown . This is the story of how I joined my mother in running Hari Sri School, founded by her with my father in 1978. It was my mother who first showed me, and the world, how to rally on and face adversity, and how to lift oneself from a position of abject despair to one of strength. She did not do so in words. When, at the young age of 39, she lost her husband, a Colonel in the Indian Army and was suddenly set adrift in a cold world, she mourned. She then set her sights on her three young daughters, and transformed her anguish into bringing up the school that had been started by her with the help of her doting husband. Kintsugi at its best! The story of Hari Sri school This school was in its fledgling stage with six stu
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Onam - The Festival of Tigers and Plantain Leaves

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                                                                                                  Adobe Stock Onam comes around with great fanfare around August- September every year, with ten days of celebration from Atham to Thirivonam which take precedence over everything else. Educational institutions give ten days of holidays, after the school Onam programme which often has an entertainment programme revolving around Onam songs (paatu), Thrivathirakalli or Kaikkotokalli where elegantly dressed ladies wearing the traditional off-white mundu-veshti dance around a vilakku (lit lamp). Girls dress up in pavadus (long skirts) and boys in kurtas and mundus (dhotis), all looking resplendent, indeed. I live in Thrissur, Kerala’s cultural capital, which is a temple town. The cost of colourful flowers skyrockets over these ten days as most households create exquisite designs with flowers in their courtyards. A giant pookallam (flower carpet) in Thekinkaadu Maidanam next to the iconic Vadak
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