Letters To Koko

  Hi Koko, Last night we were having a strange conversation. I was scrolling through old photographs of vacations and you suddenly said, “I have been to these places, but I don’t remember.” I can see that dejected and languishing look on your face.  And I thought to myself, your excuse is that you were too young, what is my excuse for having these memories lost? So I will try to think back and write to you some memories which are unique to us when we visited these places. I am not going to go all Lonely Planet on you and explain which flight we took and what famous sights we saw, but I will be talking more about what made our trip to these places special. We made distinct and once-in-a-life-time experiences here. Maybe, some day, when things are better and we can freely move about again, we will go to distant lands again – to make new memories. Till then, let me regale you about the old ones.  Let me start with one particular experience in the last awesome trip that we t...

Dear Koko, I have been highly irregular, but then life has been highly irregular the last couple of months - no about a year now?  I am sorry you had to see all this now. Now when you should be going to school and filling up your pocket with sand and share everything with your friends. Instead we are teaching you to be wary of people, stay away from them, not shake hands, not hug, not share. What a strange world it is! The other day I was telling you to sit and complete your homework. I know homework is such a chore for you. You don't want to do it. You'd rather watch TV and play video games. I used to get very irate initially (full disclosure - I still do) when I'd want you to read and paint and you sneak out for some TV time.  I think to myself, watching so much TV will fry your brain. But then wouldn't this crazy loneliness too? This weird time when both parents are home but hey can't give you focused attention for whatever reason (work mostly, or their own sanit...