• Blog Milestones,  Culture, Religion & Heritage,  Family, Friends & Remembrances

    A New Home for My Stories: The Global Mzee

    For many years now, this blog has been a place where I share whatever happens to catch my attention, from the serious to the frivolous. I’m grateful to everyone who has read along and, from time to time, left a comment. I have now started something new: a Substack publication called The Global Mzee. Over the years, several people have suggested that I find another outlet for my writing, one that might reach a wider circle of readers. Substack, which is designed for exactly that kind of writing and makes it easy for readers to follow along, seemed like a good place to do it. Mzee is the Swahili word…

  • Culture, Religion & Heritage,  Family, Friends & Remembrances,  India,  Kenya

    Where My Roots Run Deepest

    The place of my ancestors Kerala is where my roots run deepest, and it is the place I have lived the least. Meet any Syrian Christian from Kerala of my generation and they will usually ask you three questions. Where in Kerala are you from? What is your family name, your kudumbam, as we say in Malayalam? And which church do you belong to? They do not mean the building so much as the particular branch of the Syrian Christian faith. I was born into an old Syrian Christian family, the kind that can trace its history back through many generations. Some of that history is written down. Some has…

Total Visits185286