Water Memory (Jala Smriti) blooms amid a prized garden of hydrangeas–a sacred place for protagonist Janani. Janani is a proud mother to her now-adult children, daughter Malli and son Chandru. When they were children, Janani devoted herself to caring for Malli and Chandru and challenging them to grow. But as Janani enters her twilight years, her world is turned upside down; as she struggles with the early stages of dementia, her children now have to be the ones to care for her.

Malli and Chandru love their mother, but have very different priorities when it comes to her care. While Malli wants Janani’s illness to be carefully managed by herself and a team of health professionals, Chandru pursues an invention that may help preserve Janani’s independence for as long as possible. Meanwhile, Janani examines the way her mind and body are changing via conversations with her beloved hydrangeas and the fleeting memory of her late husband, who lovingly beckons her.

Brazelton and Mohan’s opera poses difficult questions that are all too familiar to many adult children and their aging parents–questions that do not have easy answers. With touchingly lyrical and honest poetry and music that paints a vivid picture where memory and technology collide, Water Memory (Jala Smriti) is a meditation on love, anticipatory grief, and hope for a better tomorrow.