From Observations & Experiences!!

Well, a couple of acknowledgements at the onset. One, I am not a die-hard feminist who is on a male-bashing spree. I function and write as a liberal who sees the world as it is, and people as they are irrespective of their gender and/ or any other bracket. Secondly, the recently concluded (and how) ICC World Cup has acted as a major stimulant to this post. While it was initially meant to be written keeping Indian/ desi men in mind and the paradigm shift our society is witnessing when it comes to men, but the turnout of events just made it go beyond them. Patriarchy has forever been the natural way of working of the world. It has been prevalent not just in India but also outside in varying forms and degrees since whenever. We have grown up seeing our grandfathers and then our fathers/ uncles as Men who were heads of families (by default); Men, who spoke less and barely EXPRESSED an emotion other than anger/ displeasure (forget about crying); Men whose word would be...

A picture speaks a thousand words, doesn’t it? Well, if not, I’ll keep shouting from the rooftop till the cows come home. These are the ‘leftovers’ from each category of school paraphernalia that have been rendered fit for dumping by my brats, and I have determinedly decided to do something about them. I have (not-so-) happily spent the entire vacation raiding cupboards, rummaging chests of drawers, checking out every single pouch/ box, scrutinising every used/ semi-/ unused notebook, crayon, pencil, pen, erasers etc. of each of my two kids. It started from feeling irritable & annoyed to eventually feeling concerned and hapless as the gravity of the situation gradually sunk in. The amount of stationery and school paraphernalia in semi/ un- used condition our kids declare ‘useless’ with every ‘new academic session’ is unbelievable. Since early childhood to now, I have been fairly judicious in the exhaustive utilization of commodities. Utilising a pencil till it could b...