By Piyushi Dhir
Winter Keya looked over at the presents neatly stacked under the Christmas tree and smiled. For someone who had never celebrated Christmas before, she certainly had gotten into the spirit of the festival really well. In fact, this was her first winter in Canada. Her husband and she had landed in Toronto seven months ago […]
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When we first came to Canada from the warm climes of West Africa, we had quite a weather shock. My husband landed here in late January, at the peak of a cruel winter. My son and I landed 6 weeks later, while Canada was still experiencing sub-zero temperatures. None of us had warm jackets, boots, […]
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“Wow, you’ve lost weight,” texted a friend, after seeing a recent picture I had posted. “Slim legs,” said another one. “Special diet?” asked a third. I laugh to myself. I remember all those comfortable days back in Ivory Coast when I had two maids at my beck and call. How much I paid a gym, […]
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I have been gone too long from my blog. I didn’t even take a break this long when my son was born! Not only have I been missing writing, I’ve been missing being in touch with all of you- my readers. I miss your thoughtful comments and your words of encouragement. I’m back! After a […]
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Back when we were kids, my brother and I regularly celebrated Christmas hosted within the cantonment. Our father worked with the Indian Air Force and come Christmas, we would invariably meet with a jolly Indian Santa, often arriving on an IAF helicopter. Candies would be thrown out and gifts pre-purchased by our parents would be […]
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We may have spent the better part of the year in our new home, Canada. Yet just when we thought we had got a hang of things, we are experiencing how irrevocably our lives have changed as we see the onset of winter. We arrived in this country when spring was on the horizon. Little […]
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“So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” a Canadian friend asked me the other day. “What does one do?” I asked her back. She told me about family dinners and get-together’s, long walks and drives. We don’t have family here and long walks are limited owing to our toddler, but I immediately caught on to […]
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As I was mentioning in my last post, a lot of new parents have been contacting me after reading my toddler’s immigration story. These are Canadian Permanent Residents who’ve had babies outside the country and are struggling with paperwork to bring their little ones to Canada. While exchanging stories back and forth and figuring out […]
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A couple of months ago, I had blogged about our immigration story in order to share our experience with the world. In particular, I had mentioned details about our son’s case, since he was born outside Canada (a non-PR) and faced difficulty getting a tourist visa to join us. For those of you who read […]
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Just a couple of days ago I came across some statistics that revealed that almost half of the immigrants coming into Canada are Indian citizens. Wow, I thought to myself, a lot of us seem desperate to leave our native country and get here. Yet despite the charm of Canada, there is one complaint that […]
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