women´s day

As I write this, I get the news that Kathryn Bigelow has won the award this year.
I can´t help but feel proud of this woman´s accomplishments though I don´t know her. It makes me feel like she has scored a point for all the women out there, just like Beyonce did a few months back at the Grammy Awards.
We are proud of you two just as we are proud of all the housewives, stay-at-home moms, working moms, grandmoms and career women in the world. You make a big difference to everyone´s lives even though you might not see the results on a day-to-day basis.
Thank you for changing my life in ways you can´t imagine.

time-pass

The last time I went visiting home, I ran into some not- so- immediate neighbours. The 50-something aunts who have never worked in an office their entire lives but who like to ask you what you do for a living.
I have worked 6 plus years in an industry that squeezed me to a size zero with endless days of work, meetings and stress. So, I decided to take a well-deserved break to do things I enjoy, look a bit healthy and just be at home to work at my own pace. So to be asked what I do for "time-pass" is something that amused me quite a bit.
Why does one needs to work in an office outside the house just to prove how busy and independent one really is?
Having visited and stayed on both sides of the fence, I feel this entire conversation is wasted. Atleast on me.
Most women work because they need the money. Some work because they love to network, or because they get pleasure from the kind of work they do - could be research-led or in design or something noble like healthcare.
Lots of women also work because they are talented and they want to showcase that talent.

Everyone can find a job at some place or the other, doing something or the other so how does it make anyone less talented or hopeless if they decide to stay at home??
And just for the record, whoever said staying at home meant a vacation?
In the Western World, you can also do office work from home. Along with the other jobs that are taken for granted elsewhere - yes, that includes doing dishes, gardening, washing, cleaning, cooking, shopping, entertaining...the list is endless but time as we all know is limited...so once again I ask, "TIME PASS??!?!"

Of course, the condescending attitude isn´t just from the 50s- something aunts. Sometimes I get it from people who belong to the same age group as me.
They like to term "house-work" as a brain-dead job. I let them live in their fantasy world. Fact is, the beds don´t clean themselves, the clothes don´t get washed and ironed magically, good food doesn´t prepare itself. There is work involved in every one of those chores. Hard work. Work that requires careful planning, execution and skill.
So here´s what:
If you want to stay at home and love staying at home, do just that. Do not let pessimistic people make you change your mind.
If you like to step out, make new friends and work outside the house to make some money, go ahead.
Remember each has its merits. So no need to compare the two.
Chairman isn´t a post just at the office. One can enjoy it at home as well.

flower

Petals so frail.
Yet so sprightly.
In hues that can´t be defined.

It has no name. Nor a family.
It grows in the trails.
Quietly.

It awaits no approval.
Or appreciation.
No pride it feels.
Or expectation of recognition.

In the rain it bathes.
The air it breathes,
defines an existence of simplicity.

No expectations it holds.
It knows its fate.
After all, few days is all that it will manage.

smile

Five characters.
One word.

To express joy.
or relief.
To hide pain.
Cover embarrassment.
Millions of faces express it differently.
Showing their teeth.
Pursing their lips.
Not smiling with their lips,
but with their eyes.
Some of us need inspiration.
Or company.
We seek a reason
or cause.
But there are some
who smile not for themselves
but for others.
Who suffer in agony within
but smile to brighten the lives of those around.
I salute those selfless gifts of god.
Those who can smile through their tears.
And make the world around them smile.
Through thought, act or even gesture.

And when these inspirations become stars in the sky,
They still keep wanting us to smile.

cotton candy

It´s currently -8 degrees where I live. The last few days have seen snow, some sun, no heat, plenty of mist and a lot more sniffles. It´s ironic that I grew up in a country where heat was in excess and here I am paying for heat to keep warm. Such is life!
I am not going to complain though. There is something alluring about snow. It´s pure fluff that makes you want to touch it and store it in a box to look at, time and again. While we are at it, here´s a little secret:
I like tasting snow. Yes, really. Any by that, I don´t mean swallowing everything the sky showers. Just a bit to savour the true magic of nature. It doesn´t cost a fortune. It does however add to my ever growing list of things I cherish in life.
This cotton candy is for me...even when I turn 60.

wet head

What´s worse than stepping out in winter? Taking a hair bath in winter.
Seriously, have you tried it? I can assure you that it´s not a very pleasant experience.
When you are in the steaming bathroom, it´s different. As hot water nurses your body from the cold weather outside, you feel like a baby, comfortable and happy. Once the hot water flow halts, it´s hell. So you grab a fluffy towel and cover your head and it feels nice and warm. You get dressed and then let the towel stay.
Honestly, I want to hold on to it forever. When I take it away, I know what happens. Wet hair makes contact with my neck and my skin revolts. And mind you, I don´t feel any better when I use the blow dryer either. Because when I stop and try brushing my hair, it´s wet again and sticks to my scalp.
I could try cutting my hair shorter but I know that it would be the winter´s gain and my loss. So I am going to be brave and come up with an idea. When? Well, I am hoping before the winter ends!

first day

The clammy hands, the galloping heart, butterflies in the stomach and nausea are so common when you are faced with "the first day". It could be the face day anytime or anywhere - play school, school, college, university, first day at first job, first day at tenth job, first date, first meeting with prospective in laws, first ever trip to a supermarket. "First" for me is disastrous. I say all the wrong things, drink lots of water, want to use the rest room all the time, feel like I am going to throw up when I haven´t eaten much, keep checking for zits or molecules that might have found themselves on my face since the last time I checked it ( that would be every minutes). Overall, I am just babbling and making no sense. The after-effects mind you, are far worse! I revisit every painful detail and cringe. I shouldn´t have said that! I should have said that! Why did I do that? Any by "that" I mean vague stuff like, shaking my feet at ridiculously high speeds, chewing my own lip off, stopping my eyes from blinking so that the other party feels like i am in the room, gripping tightly to anything that I can find- pencils, desk weight, paper, bill, cup... I guess you get the drift. I don´t know why this happens and no matter how much I coach myself to stay calm and think of the positives, my anxiety gets the better of me. I once entered a really huge supermarket without a trolly. I couldn´t find a trolly and I didn´t know whom to ask so I entered and gathered everything that I could in my hands and at the cashier´s counter deposited it with flourish. The confused cashier probably thought I was nuts. Who carries 13 odd items in their hands afterall? I do. "It´s my first day" I wanted to tell her. I am just like that. So don´t ask me and don´t tell me these things. I am sure I will think about this when I get home and cringe. Why, I am writing about it. Which means I am not over the incident yet!
Sigh, " the first day". Looks like I have to live with it. It´s one of those obsessions that will never stop because "the first day" shall always be there for the rest of my life at some point or the other.