A Bend in the River of Life

Sabrina and her sister, Samara, are Anglo-Indian girls raised by strong-minded and free-spirited parents. Their father proudly represented Mysore State as a passionate young athlete and their mother, already a successful teacher, chose to pursue her Masters degree in Literature at the age of 50. They were the ideal parents who brought their daughters up to be strong, independent women but at the same time, took care of their needs and were present whenever they needed the support.
Who could have guessed that these two solid individuals, who never had the word "can't" in their vocabulary, would be reduced to mere vegetative states, as the dreaded Parkinson's disease hit them one after the other?
Heartbroken, Sabrina and Samara watch their parents degenerate slowly, with no hope for recovery or an end to their misery. As they go through the trials of life, their growing family struggles to come to terms with Parkinsonism, a disease that presently has no cure. Through all the highs and lows, Sabrina recognizes the value of living in the moment and treasuring the beautiful memories one makes with family—even with a bend in the river of life.

Marianne de Nazareth is presently a full-time freelance journalist writing on a variety of environmental and gender issues. She has won the Laadli Media award for Print Journalism for Gender Sensitivity 2016. In December 2015, she won the best Print Journalism award for Environmental writing. In 2004, she joined the Deccan Herald as Chief Sub Editor and in 2006, went on to do a Masters in Journalism funded by the EU to upgrade her journalism skills. She came back to the Deccan Herald in 2008 and worked as Assistant Editor. From 2011, Marianne has been adjunct faculty at St. Joseph's PG College of Media Studies. She has written several papers in the course of her PhD studies and has just submitted her doctoral thesis to the Madurai University.
She is also a media fellow with the UNFCCC, UNEP & the Robert Bosch Stiftung and travels covering Gender, Science and Environment issues. Writing still continues to be her first love but her focus has changed to Environmental and Science Journalism with a strong focus on conservation, species loss and gender issues. She writes for a host of Indian and International publications, and is invited to attend Science Conferences to be educated on various issues of sustainability on the planet.
Marianne has written a children's book of stories called 'The One Eyed Ogre & Other stories' & a novel called 'Above the Rice-fields of Pilerne.' Her second novel is a 'A Bend in the River of Life.'