Author Archives
from Susan Narjala
Startling Obedience, Simple Joy
It’s not often that an auditor with an MBA from the U.S. changes career paths to become a Montessori teacher.
It’s even less likely that they would start a preschool in India with the sole purpose of reaching out to underprivileged children.
But, then again, Saraswathi Padmanabhan, is not one of those people you meet often. Her unique ...
Beauty From Ashes
I remember seeing the grainy newspaper picture of a charred station wagon.
It was 1999 and I was doing my undergraduate degree. The picture was so startling, the story behind it so horrifying, that it sliced right through my usually-frivolous preoccupations to sear itself on my heart.
The incident prompted the most hardened person to cry out, ...
Moms, You Are Not Enough
“Mama, you got this. You are enough.” My heart sank when I read the last lines in an article on a leading website for Christian mothers. My heart sank, because it was my article.
The article was intended to encourage moms in the trenches of raising little ones and overwhelmed by trying to do it all. ...
A Different Kind of Beauty
Buy chart paper for Science project.
Make sure shoes are washed for sports day.
Plan menu for dinner guests. Buy ingredients. Send reminders.
Get volunteers for Sunday School.
These, and a hundred little thoughts, swarm around my mind every single day. And that’s not even counting work-related assignments.
Women’s minds have been aptly described as “spaghetti” – there’s a tangle ...
Did You Just Get Phubbed?
It’s a word that’s been recently added to my lexicon: phubbing.
You may not have heard the word before but, chances are, you’ve been phubbing for years.
What in the world am I talking about?
Phubbing is snubbing someone by favouring your phone over them.
Essentially, phone + snubbing = phubbing.
You know exactly what I’m talking about.
You become acutely ...
Give A Little Deeper
In the last three years, particularly after we moved to India, I’ve met some incredibly generous people.
I’ve met a woman who gave up a lucrative career to open a school for children of construction workers. I’ve met a doctor, now counselling abused women at a shelter home - for zero money. I’ve met a couple ...
When You Find Yourself In Life’s Hard Places
The other day, an ad from an insurance company popped up on my Facebook feed. A smug-looking man smiled from my computer screen and the tagline read: Complete Protection from Cancer.
I did a double take because the ad was so obviously misleading. How could an insurance company protect you from cancer? Of course, the fine ...
Brown People, Be Nice to Brown People, Too!
I don’t usually write emotionally-charged posts that touch on anything even remotely sensitive. I usually talk about cuddly babies and potato chips and the battle of the bulge and other wonderfully fru-fru topics.
But I just wanted to get on my soapbox today and vent a little. It just so happens to be Martin Luther King ...
Take Off That Cape
Have you ever felt like there’s so much on your plate that you have little choice but to roll up your sleeves and get started pronto? Like, if you don’t shoot off that email right this moment or send that text off this exact second or douse that proverbial fire now, that life will fall apart?
I know I have.
Whether I ...
MEET SUSAN
