Do you remember when I said I rued the day I decided to go down the Overseas Citizen of India route? Truer words have never been spoken. For the past two weeks, my life has been one long drawn out misery. From 9.00 AM, I dial and re-dial the number for the person who can tell me what happened to my renunciation of Indian citizenship process. Between 9.00 AM and 9.30 AM, the line will go through and the phone will ring out. After 9.30 AM, I will be greeted …

This is a tale in two parts – the first part was painless and easy. The second made me rue the day I decided to embark on this journey. But such is life and I hope my experiences make your journeys somewhat easier.
This is the story of my family and I becoming British citizens and then trying to remain Overseas Citizens of India, as well.
After pondering for more than 4 years, my husband and I decided to change our citizenship last year. It wasn’t easy, deciding to give up our …

I walk into my High Street bookstore and at the window, Horrid Henry greets me, along with Tracey Beaker. Inside, they are joined by The Stig, Bakugan and the Ninja Turtles. The Famous Fives and Secret Sevens tucked away in the corners don’t even get a look in.

BBC’s “Famous, Rich and Jobless” (telecast at 9.00 pm on March 10, 2010) seems another in the long list of “Celebrity tourism”, as the Guardian puts it, to grace our television. A bunch of “celebs” visited various members of the public who are living purely on benefits to see if they can help them.
That the rationale behind the show was shaky as hell is another topic altogether. What I want to discuss is the issue raised by one of the celebs, Diarmuid Gavin, as he visited a big family receiving …

For a country where a significant percentage of the population has barely seen < 20 deg C temperatures, much less snow, the fact that we had two skiers and a luge contestant was a huge deal. Throw in the fact that sports really isn’t our cup of chai, I think it is nothing short of phenomenal that we actually have two blokes that can ski!

Though an hour and a half remained for my school bell, I had the misfortune of living farthest from school. Hence, my school run had a First In – Last Out approach and I got on to my rickety rickshaw at the ungodly hour of 8.10 AM.

I took the last step to change my surname today. Finally. No going back. And I feel kinda weird about it.
I have been using the married name slowly and gradually since I came to the UK. From strictly stating “I WILL NOT CHANGE MY SURNAME” to ” hmm yeah maybe in my medical forms – and purely so the baby will have your name”, it was a journey fraught with difficulties. What’s in a name, you ask. Well it is MINE. The one I was born with and here …

19 years, 400 hearings, 40 adjournments and at the end of it, Ruchika Girhotra‘s family had no justice for the injustice meted out to them in 1990. It was in 1990 that 14-year-old Ruchika was molested by DGP Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore and within the span of three years, drove the child to take her own life rather than face a day more of torture and harassment at the hands of Rathore and his goons.
And the punishment? Six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000. That is what the …

By day singing praises of social media and the latest wonder it is capable of and by night, decrying those who use the power of the same to reach out towards some support and solace. The media, the blogosphere, everyone is at it again. Shellie Ross, aka Twitterer Military_Mom, finds herself the latest victim of a modified witch hunt, wherein she is being pilloried for tweeting about her two year old son’s fatal pool accident.
Shocked gasps must have resonated across cyberspace when, at 11.08 pm on Monday, Ross tweeted “Remembering …

Some might find it dreary, some depressing but to me, Autumn has always seemed exotic. With trees sporting warm tones of colours, from a mellow yellow to a fiery red, the first half of Autumn is more fun than Winter can ever be.
After Bonfire Night, it gets tedious, admittedly, with sodden leaves on pavements that make you slip and slide but despite this, there’s nothing to beat Autumn. Last week, as we were bowling through Scotland, with the hills covered in orange, I was most ecstatic. Standing at Glenfinnan, gazing …

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