Thus it was that as I rocked my little baby to sleep, I often wondered what I should give her: a mind conditioned towards the accepted societal concept of God, or a blank mind that would make its own opinions once older.’

One of the major concerns of Indian parents is how best to pass on to their children the time-honoured traditions of Indian culture and spirituality, even as they try to raise global citizens.

Visa, Stickers and Other Matters of the Soul is a delightful and endearing account of a young mother’s experiments with raising her daughter in the Indian spiritual way while living in atheist China. As she begins to educate her daughter, she is surprised by her daughter’s sense of understanding and realizes that parenting is her biggest life lesson, with her daughter as her teacher.