As a dad, my job in it’s most simple terms is to keep Sequoia alive. Anything beyond that is gravy, which is why yesterday was so brutal. Welcome to the joy ride that is round-one of vaccines at the pediatrician’s office. Oh joy. I have been dreading this day, secretly praying that I wouldn’t,...
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In recent years, since my own mother died, it is with accelerating regularity that I seem to receive the phone call or email informing me that someone I love has died. As I approach my own 34th birthday, I am realizing that this will not slow down as my community grows, so too with...
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Gandhi would be smiling today, I imagine, if he were sitting with me scanning the headlines: In two startling developments, both Whole Foods and Campbells Soup have succumbed to the demands of their consumers in not insignificant ways! Modern-day non-violent action can be as simple as voting with your wallets. Whole Foods declared that...
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If I took left-over meat remnants, pulled it off the bone, spun it at high speeds to remove the fat, and sprayed it with ammonia hydroxide, would you eat it, much less feed it to your kids? I imagine the sane amongst us would say no. Yet such “Pink Slime” has been sold to...
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Today, I read a yoga-teacher-friend Carrie’s Facebook post today about being harassed by a client at the gym where she teaches yoga to the point where she might choose to give up. This annoying fellow sounds like a disease who can only complain about everything he experiences her doing wrong. You know those people,...
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I can still remember the first time I watched a younger cousin of mine in Upstate New York, two years old at the time, zealously sucking from the straw of a McDonald’s vat-like cup of Coke. I wasn’t vastly older but something just felt wrong about an infant already being on Coke’s teat. Wouldn’t...
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Is there a connection between Circumcision and the apparent Empathy Deficit ravaging the ranks of global leaders at virtually every level? This question sumates my myriad views on the challenges facing the human race. But to explain, I must first rewind: Growing up uncircumcised can feel like having a stigma branded inside your pants....
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For years, I have unconsciously been taking note of what people do that makes me feel special. Ever since I became aware of the subtle gifts these 10 actions are, I have done best to offer them to everyone I meet. Try them and see for yourself. They are simple and easy to internalize....
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It was at ~4am on this day, October 4, two years ago that my mother, Dr. Carol A. Breckenridge, died in my arms. My father, Dr. Arjun Appadurai, and I, as well as her entire community of friends and loved ones, lost a true leader’s leader, a visionary, a force. My mother never ceased...
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Throughout my life, I have been addicted to ‘goosebumps’. You know that feeling when something inspires you, when you read a story of someone triumphing over adversity, when the impossible becomes possible? These moments can be read like a brail bible up my arm as my body physically reacts when such stories chance into...
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