Confessions of a Merry Monk

Some of you may have noticed that Confessions of a Merry Monk has gone a little quiet. Nothing dramatic has happened. No scandal. No publisher has whisked me away in …

Less than two hours after I’d pressed publish on the last chapter, I received a call from my sister-in-law and an email from my brother, with the subject heading: “I …

2011 “She’s inhumane. How can a mother leave her children?” As I hear the words, I know this is it. This is the moment. All eyes are on me now. …

Chalkhill Estate. It was one of those ‘phantom’ council estates I’d heard about but never seen. It was always in the news for robberies, violent gang crime and drug scandals. …

Before the incident with Maya at Jai’s school, I saw the children regularly, a few times a week and on the weekends. After the humiliation I faced at the school, …

Before we continue, I wanted to pause here and say a couple of things: I am loath to write negative things about people. This series is not written with the …

It’s funny what the mind does when it’s trying to avoid pain and trauma. And when I say funny, I mean funny-funny, not funny-ha-ha.   Today, I meditated, bathed, washed …

December 2001   We’re in India with my in-laws and a big group of relatives and friends. We’ve come to visit some Jain temples and see the facilities funded by …

I’m often asked what happened in my marriage, why it ended. The truth is, there is no single answer, no one isolated incident, as I’m sure is the case for …

Sometime after that awful evening, Maanav was away in Germany on a business trip. I was at home with the new baby when the phone rang. It was the fraud …

I hit him. Yes. The man I loved. The father of my children. I hit him. I can’t remember why it happened. The only memory I have is this snapshot: …

I’d gone into this pregnancy with a strong and positive mindset. Because of the horrible post-natal depression I’d suffered after giving birth to Jai, I needed to ensure I didn’t …