Author: Rhea

I saw a comment by someone on LinkedIn, saying how it was easier to open a bank account than to close it. And I thought that was so true. While opening everyone made such fuss over you, made you feel special there would certainly be more than one person. But closing you had to go looking for people, you were the one holding all kinds of paper, and certainty not at all important. Strange. Strange and true of many other things. Like when we checked-in at the airport, with so much fuss and then when we stood alone waiting for…

I heard the story of a14 yrs old Dalit school boy, threatened to be expelled from the school by his ‘high class’ teacher, because he drank water from the same pot. Because there no water kept for the ‘other’ students. The boys father was called, because the teacher was adamant, the father pleaded. Being expelled would mean he would not get admission in any school and his future and the future of his family was as good as over. The teacher did not relent. And the father eventually had to keep his ’pagadi”, his head gear, at the feet of…

Yesterday we got all excited about a commissioned painting, that my husband is going to make. While discussing how I wanted my portrait. I realized I wanted a portrait with a Tree. That I have been fond of trees is an understatement. I do feel I was raised by trees. Literally. Growing up in my grandmas house. I spend more time under and on trees than inside the house. Some nights I also went to sleep under them. We had a custard apple tree. These are structured like huge trees but are shorter and the fruit can be assessed by…

I have thin skin. I don’t mean it in a metaphorical sense. It is also quite sensitive. I will often come to know if I am about to get prickly heat a few hours before it pops. It is in very real sense my radar. I stay or don’t stay in places depending on my how my skin is reacting. One of my most favourite practices for myself and for people I care or coach is ‘Skin care’. Keep it moisturised clean and healthy. Although, I am beginning to suspect there is more to it than that. Our skin is one…

I had gone for a long walk in the ‘woods’. It’s the only place in Mumbai with trees. I saw a beautiful white heron. And I could not help but notice how it sits in muck picks tiny fish from that dirty water and is yet so clean and white. My mind wandered to the colour “White”. It is one of my favourite colours. My home is largely while, including white sofas. My wardrobe is easily forty percent white, without exaggeration. Often in conversation, white comes up. – how can you wear and carry white.  I am afraid of white.…

In a client conversation yesterday, we ended up talking about a leader who was very Goal driven and also for whom feedback was difficult. To hear to receive. One of the reasons why feedback is often hard, for many, is Fear. Although that is not the answer we will hear. It rhymed. I wondered, we put such emphasis and importance on goal setting but don’t really talk about what might get in the way. And what if we approached Fear, with the same ‘thinking’ and rigour and did Fear setting also? Fear has been used to control for eons. It…

I feel strangely at home here in Bandra.  My  Son asked me yesterday as we were returning home, is it about completing a circle for you, this connection with Bandra? It was strange question but my immediate answer was yes. I felt as if I have been in an Exile. And now re-turning. My grandmothers family owned a home here, which was then given in faith to someone when she moved to look after the church. And then it was gone. Places live inside of us more than we live inside places. The history of this place lives inside me.…

I was having a conversation with my Son about his job and house search etc. and he was quite frustrated. And the conversation steered to being “lucky” or “unlucky”. I have heard these words a lot. And Lucky has be ascribed to me often. I have also felt like that. That does not mean ‘bad’ stuff has not happened with me. And yet instances like. We would not have money for some school trip, and last minute something would magically happen and I would get the money. My siblings often said that. Oh yes you are lucky so you get…

I had been wanting old Chinese coins for my I-Ching study and practice. I know you can get them on the streets of Colaba. But I wasn’t sure. I did go and was taken to a lady who sells. She sits in front of the Museum in Colaba. At first glance she was an average old Maharashtrian lady, complete with a half-moon tattoo on her forehead, and. A few more on her arms. Wearing the traditional nine-yard saree and an accent to go with it. With heaps of old coins for sale. I bent down; I knew what I wanted.…

Definition : From Greek catharsis meaning “purification” or “cleansing” or “clarification”. Is the purification and purgation of emotions results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator to the effect of catharsis on the body Something I have been going through. Pretty much all of last week. Sometimes I know the reason, sometimes I imagine I know. Sometimes I have no clue. I didn’t know which belongs to whom or even if that matters. Last evening. Returning home in a rickshaw. The streets…