Ranjani Rao is a scientist by training, writer by avocation, originally from Mumbai, and a former resident of USA, who now lives in Singapore with her family. Ranjani Rao is the author of Rewriting My Happily Ever After A memoir of divorce and discovery and The Coherent Writer newsletter. Column: Desi Roots, Global Wings – a monthly column focused on the Indian immigrant experience
Winners, finalists of TV3 reality shows to be given Dubai experience thechronicle.com.gh - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thechronicle.com.gh Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Desi Roots, Global Wings – a monthly column focused on the Indian immigrant experience
On Mother’s Day, as on all others, I was thinking of my mother and grandmother. Even though they are no more, they are very much present in my everyday life. This is partly thanks to the gold jewelry a chain, a pair of small earrings, and bangles that they bequeathed to me. These items matter to me not because of their (modest) monetary value but because of what they signify.
In Marathi,
stree=woman,
dhan=wealth). The term means “woman’s capital” and, traditionally, it was endowed upon the bride at the time of her wedding. It was comprised of gold and jewelry, household items, and cash. This was the contribution that her birth family made towards helping her get settled in life. Sometimes, the groom’s family also made a contribution towards the
Desi Roots, Global Wings – a monthly column focused on the Indian immigrant experience.
Learning to unwind in nature – A life-saving skill that can help us survive not just the pandemic, but the ups and downs of daily life.
In the early months of the pandemic, I consoled myself by saying that all the drastic changes demanded by the Covid-19 virus were short-term measures. The inconvenience was temporary; a test of resilience that was best borne with a smile. A year later, the once-surreal situation that has now become an unpleasant but accepted reality for the foreseeable future, makes me grimace.
Desi Roots, Global Wings – a monthly column focused on the Indian immigrant experience.
As I mark an important milestone in my scientific career, I notice that not much has changed since the time I joined the workforce making my goal of staying in the workforce sound like an achievement.
Recently I completed twenty-five years as a scientist. Not surprisingly, I remembered my first day at work, eager to reap the rewards of my hard earned education that had begun in India and culminated in the US with a Ph.D. As a diligent student growing up in urban India in a family that valued education, I had pursued a science education, unaware of the challenges of being a woman in STEM.