Men from Mars and Women from Venus

I had this conversation some time ago with H about equality between Men and Women.

H: Why does a woman compete with men on everything?

Me: Why shouldn’t we compete?

H: Women always fight for equality but when it comes to certain things they just keep quiet and do nothing. You (women) always look for exceptions.

Me: Oh, it’s not like that. What do you mean by exceptions? Give me an example

H: Whenever a man and woman enter a room, a woman expects a man to open. Why can’t it be the other way round? Have you ever seen a woman opening the door for men?

Me: It’s not a hard and fast rule that a man has to open the door for woman. Not always a man would do unless he is trying to impress a girl and needs to prove that he is a true gentleman.

H: Fine, what would you say for this? You women have reserved seats in the buses, isn’t it? If you fight for equal rights why can’t we men have equal number of reserved seats?

Me: Well, only few seats in the bus are reserved for us, rest everything is for men. No women would go and ask for a seat if men are sitting there.

H: It’s acceptable for women to take a break from work and look after the family but men can’t do that. If I have to quit my job for couple of years to look after my child, no one would give me a job if tell them I quit because I was looking after my child.

I couldn’t continue my argument after this as I was already late for my cab :-( But actually it put me into thinking, what he said was right.

Contented

Monster Day

AOL celebrates its anniversary every year on 20th May and we call it as “Monster help day”. All AOL employees across the globe render their services for community help. They form groups and the entire day is spent in various places like orphanages, old age homes, eye-camps, serving food for the needy etc. This year I decided to be part of “The refugee home” for a day service. The service included taking 20 kids to Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. Sharvari, Dhivya (sharu’s daughter) and I reached office at 8:00 A.M and with a bunch of other volunteers we reached the venue in two hours time. Before I narrate the entire day’s event, let me give you a brief introduction about this place:

The refugee home is a home for underprivileged kids, run by a lady called Buella. She has adopted twenty kids and looking after them as her own children. yes, you read it right, I am not kidding. Technically, she has twenty two kids along with her twin boys. Buella mam grew up admiring Mother Theresa and her charity work. She was her role model from her childhood days and always dreamt of doing at least a fraction of what Mother Theresa has done to the society. Buella mam's heart wrenched when she saw kids who were begging on the streets. She even had nightmares when she saw physical abuses with moms who delivered baby girls. Buella mam worked as a teacher till 2007. She quit her job and decided to do something to the society. With the support from her family she started this home for refugees. In the refugee home, we can see kids with different age groups, the youngest being close to two and the oldest being eight years old. She is taking care of all the children with at most care and affection. Her passion for giving life for the underprivileged kids is something significant.

We picked up the kids from their place and headed towards planetarium. On our way to the planetarium the kids entertained us by singing prayers, songs and rhymes. I was refreshed with all my nursery poems, not bad I still remembered all of them. We reached the venue at 11.00 A.M since the show was only at 12:30, we still had one and a half hour. We took the kids inside the park and let them play games (swing, see-saw). While they were playing, we distributed some snacks (biscuits, frooti, chips, and chocolates).What really impressed me was, the moment we gave them to eat, they ate only after the prayers, each one thanked god for that moment. It was simply touching!

The kids really had good time coming out of their home. They thoroughly enjoyed their outing playing with all of us. It was time for us to go for the show; though kids were slightly tired it didn’t show up on their faces, they were excited to watch the show. As this was their first visit to planetarium, they didn’t know what to expect inside. It was dark and with the air conditioners the place was cool inside. They had played some soothing music, after few minutes the lights were turned off. The first thing we saw was the stars all over the place, it was wonderful. The kids started clapping and screaming in joy. The show was for about forty-five minutes, most of them enjoyed the show, but the little ones were so tired they slept off. Once we came out, we played with them for some more time and the kids thanked all of us for the wonderful opportunity given to them from AOL. We took some pictures with all of them. The happiness on each of their face was truly priceless.

We just spent a day with twenty kids and that was tiring. What do we say about Buella mam, who spends every single day with them? My heart ached just listening to the stories about the kid’s background. It takes a lot of courage to step up and do such a great service. I am so glad we have people like Buella mam to do such things without expecting anything. What a selfless service isn’t it?

( Monster helpers at "The refugee home")

(The refugee home family)

(We with the kids)

(Nithya, who just turned three. Her father disowned her because she was a girl child and mom committed suicide out of depression)

(Anupriya, who is the youngest & cutest kid in the home is disowned by her father too for being a girl child)

Observations

We all spend about five minutes in a day in the lifts isn’t it? Not unless if you are fitness conscious or concerned about global warming. Otherwise people like me would completely give an excuse of carrying a laptop or walking with high heels for not using the stairs. We use the lifts everywhere, be it in the office, restaurants, hospitals, shopping malls or apartments. I have made some observations in the little time that I have spent in the lifts.

The ‘Lift operator’:

Some really nice and some totally lost interest in their lives. The only question they have for everyone is “which floor?” He might see you every day for more than three days, but will still ask you, every time you step inside the lift. There are some really nice ones, who would wish you Good morning/evening/night with a wonderful smile on their face. Some behave as if they are doing a favor to you by pressing the buttons. If you are at work, your day starts or ends with this guy.

The 'Starer':

Argh! I hate these people; this could be both men and women. Their motive is to just stare at anyone and everyone who gets into the lift. It doesn’t really matter to them even if you stare back at them. I wonder what they would be thinking in their mind while gazing at someone. It’s really disgusting! They stare at people without even winking.

The 'Assessor':

I wonder if these guys have been hired from someone to evaluate all the people who walks inside the lift. They are not as bad as the starers. All they do is just glance at you from head to toe and analyze the brands of clothes/accessories/footwear. This again could be both men and women. They look back at you again only if they are interested in specific things.





The 'Eluder':

This is the most interesting and often witnessed character in the lift. They try to avoid all possible eye contacts. They even avoid at people whom they know very well. The moment they get inside the lift, they start looking at the buttons or floor indicator at the top or looking at their shoes. Sometimes they will be fiddling with their phones or ipods. Even if they haven’t got any new text messages, they go to their inbox and starts reading the old messages. I wonder if it’s just a way to flaunt their smart phones (HTC, BlackBerry, iPhone or a high end Nokia).

The 'Peskier':

This is mostly the loud mouther. For some reason, they are the only ones who have their cell phone network inside the lifts. The only time they get to socialize with people is while they are inside the lift. They get into a lift , make a call and tell the other person on the phone that the call might disconnect any moment as they are in the lift. Why do they even want to call someone when they know they are getting inside a lift? They are so loud in their talks that everyone gets to know what’s happening in their lives. They don’t care on what people think and even gossip about their bosses in the lift.

The 'Mystic woman':

How often are you stuck with a girl inside the lift who has taken bath in perfume? You might not see such characters often in the office lifts. The girl usually dressed well (heavy make-up) designer clothes/accessories. She walks into the lift with few clicks of her heels and sets the adrenalin rush in men. Don’t be surprised if you see a man missing his floor, in spite of clicking the button. You will even see people going further up just to get those extra glimpses of the mystic woman.

The 'Imperceptible':

These are often the ones who think they are the only ones in the lift. Even if they see people around, they think they are invisible. From the time they walk into the lift their only focus to admire themselves in the mirror. Again this could be both men and women. They are busy setting up their hair, touching up their make-up, wiping off the smudged eyeliners. The worst part is they even look at their teeth to check if any food particles are stuck in between (Grrrr that’s the nastiest thing that can anyone do in the lift). Mind you they do not have any public sense at all.

Image Courtesy : Google 

Two birthdays and a farewell!

Our team (Paid services-PET) is very popular for the team outings/dinners/lunches/potlucks in the entire AOL. Today, we had yet another team lunch. Currently Nitin, Rakshith and I are no longer part of PET team but our hearts will always be with PET. Isn’t it guys? I am sure you will all vouch for me on this.

This was the farewell lunch from Arpita alias Orpita to all of us. Arpita is bidding adieu to the organization for a better career prospects. I know farewells are not a happy occasion but we can always cherish the wonderful moments that we spent together. Thanks for the wonderful lunch at ‘Nukkad’. To top it all, we also celebrated Latha Mami's and Sowmya NS birthdays too. An awesome heavy lunch and chocolate ruffle pastry on the same day (what happens to the productivity-shall we blame it on the food?).

Arpita you’ll only be out of our sights but never be out of our hearts. The last three years that we spent together will always be in our memory. We had wonderful time with you. You are the sweet-little-fun loving-easygoing-hotmirchi-girl of our team. I am feeling bad because you won’t be around to notice my new clothes/accessories. I can’t flaunt them anymore :-( Jokes apart, we will surely miss you. We really appreciate for being a great sport for all the leg pulling sessions. We will also miss the sweets from Kolkatta. Wishing you all the very best for your future endeavors.

(Sorry Maami for the typo error)

(Chocolate facial for a beautiful skin)

Goodbyes are not forever.

Goodbyes are not the end.

They simply mean we'll miss you

Until we meet again!

Bundle of Joy

Yesterday was my cousin B’s house warming ceremony (should I say houses warming ceremony-he has built nine houses). It was nice to meet everyone after a very long time. I decided to go with mom on Saturday, so I can spend more time with everyone. As soon as I reached B’s place, I saw Abhi playing outside. By the way, Abhi is my cousin P’s son. OMG! I can’t tell you how hyper this kid is. He is only a little over a year old and I am totally in awe with this kid. It’s so much fun to spend time with him. His innocent talks make any one fall in love with him. One cute little monster (with his stubbornness), who will make everyone run behind him. The best part is about the way he apologizes to people. He holds both his ears with his hands and very sweetly asks for sorry. The look on his face is indescribable! He can speak just few words, but very eager to learn new things. He will repeat everything what you say to him, it’s so nice to hear him repeat wrongly pronounced words. He can never sit in one place, always running, playing and fighting with everyone. Believe me you don’t need to join any gym or do any sort of exercise if you have him around. The number of times he makes you run behind him itself is a good workout to keep you fit.

I love the way he calls my name "So-may akka". I am already missing you Abhi,muaah :-)

Devotion

(Location: Chamundi hills, Mysore)