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I remember the first time I set foot on the Indian subcontinent, almost 20 years ago now. I was a college student, and lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel during my winter break. I am an only child and traveling was a huge part of my formative years, thanks to my awesome parents. However, I had never left the Western Hemisphere, much less to a ‘developing’ country like India. Mumbai (where we...

Just as hard to say goodbye to my home that I grew up in, was to say farewell to, by far, the best cars we have ever owned. I have always loved cars and driving (much to my husband’s dismay- it’s definitely my weakness!), but I never knew true car-love until I first sat in Tommy (the name for our model X- the white car below).  Driving Tommy was like riding a motorcycle, but...

I remember the day my parents told me that we were moving again. I was 8 years old and we’d just moved from New York about a year prior, and they excitedly shared the news that we were finally buying our own house. My mom said, “And, the street is named after your Dad!”. “Really?!?”, I said. “Yes- we’re moving to Old Man Court”. This quickly became a family joke… used, overused, many times...

One major hurdle out of the way, yet I still had to get an actual license to practice! For this, I wrote directly to the Ministry of Health and asked for clarification on the issue of whether I needed to appear for any qualifying exams or could I apply for a license. The response to this came in the form of a personal email, directly from the Director of Medical Affairs, Dr. Reena Nayyar,...

When my husband and I looked into moving to India, our primary concern was that of my license to practice medicine in India. In 2015, there was no direct ability of anyone of my background, even if married to an Indian, to practice in India. Basically, unless  you had Indian “heritage” you really could not get the right “green card”. The best permanent measure was to obtain a Person of Indian Origin or PIO...

My final year in Medical School gave me the opportunity to extern at any hospital of my choice. I immediately thought of doing it at Columbia Asia Hospital in Bengaluru. This I thought would also give me the opportunity to stay at Ajoy’s parents place and learn delicious Konkani cuisine from his mother who is well known all over for her culinary skills) and his sister Anita.