Aap Beeti

May 09, 2026 ·

Spoke to my parents this morning at length which I do often. It's nice having a great relationship with them. Mother's day is tomorrow so wished my mom and we talked about many things. She was born in Badala and raised in Chunni Kalan, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab until she moved to Chandigarh. She's a tremendous woman. Her uncle encouraged her to pursue nursing and she eventually ran big hospitals in North India, where I was born, got her PhD in administration of large hospitals, and moved to America later in life. Her favorite author and poet is Amrita Pritam and I find she's very keen on intellectual pursuits, which is probably where I get my version of it from. I love my mom!

She gave me many things in life, but one that cost her the most probably was our move to America, in which like many immigrants she had to give up her high status career and start from scratch all over again. My dad and I laughed earlier today about the adage it's going to be harder than you think people tell you when starting a new challenging journey, and how one inevitably thinks in response whatever, how hard can it be. The thing then ends up kicking your ass. My parents and I have the luxury to have such retrospective humor on our move to America, but in the moment these challenges were severe and tough; why I am even more deeply grateful of them with time. I think they instilled great values in me, and I lucked out having them as parents.