Celebrating Women’s Day

How did you celebrate  the International Women’s Day?

By messaging all your women colleagues/friends/relatives?

By calling them?

By having a party? Cutting a cake?

By getting together for some good old-fashioned male-bashing?

I didn’t do any of the above.

I didn’t call up anyone. Neither did I message. I didn’t even wish anyone.

Does it mean I don’t believe in it? I guess so.

I mean, do we really need a day to tell us we are special? By people who are equally special,if not more?

I agree, that as women, we achieve a lot more than men. In many ways, we are far superior to them. Then why do we want a allot a day to shout from the rooftops that , yes indeed, we are great ? Or do we want them to shout out our greatness ? Why this need to be idolized? To be worshiped?

On another note, can we really celebrate Women’s day when there are women being beaten to death on charges of witchcraft, that too, by other women? Can we celebrate it when 16,000 women applicants (supposedly well educated , from reputable families)  apply for marriage with Rahul Mahajan, with a history of drug abuse and physical abuse? Can we celebrate it when women are still not permitted to fly fighter jets in Indian Air Force? Can we really celebrate when a majority of our female population has no idea about the Women’s quota bill passed in the Rajya Sabha and what it has for them?

We can’t. We shouldn’t.

There is nothing to celebrate, really.

I used to think that the BF is cynical in these matters. He doesn’t believe in the ‘Days’ either. But this time, I see his point. We, as women, and specifically as Indian Women, have a very long way to go , before we can even think of lighting that candle, let alone cutting the cake.

The world is getting flatter, we have more International exposure and hence, the brouhaha over 8th of March.
Look deeper, and it is all hollow.

Do go over to the Indusladies’ page on the Women’s Day blog entries. Some of those posts are real life narrations. I had tears in my eyes going through them. It was dreadful to think of women being abused at the hands of men. But you know what was worse? Women being abused at the hands of women themselves! Who then, can we say is liberated? Who can proudly raise her head and say that she is in a position to celebrate? Can the right arm rejoice when the left is infected?

Whom are we fooling then? Ourselves? The men? Who indeed ?

So I didn’t celebrate it .

But the BF did. For me.

I had a compensatory leave on Monday, 8th of March and the BF took the day off  for me. To spend it with me. We ditched the car and took the bike, zooming across different ends of the city to run the different errands I had been planning for weeks. Our itinerary included visiting a college for obtaining a prospectus, visiting my gynaec for a routine check-up, lunch, movie, visiting a colleague of the BF who was hospitalized, meeting up with BFS, going through sample apartments in the campus where I work, house hunting in the outskirts of the city, grabbing a quick snack and finally heading home to the twins.

It was the most fulfilling day ever . And for me, that was what Celebrating Women’s day feels like.

To be with someone who loves and respects you. Someone who values you.

To have the freedom to go out and do your stuff.

To have friends who give you the most genuine smile when they meet you.

To have a warm home and hearth to come back to.

To feel, truly loved, deserved.

This, is my celebration of womanhood.

What’s yours?

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Sweltering Sunday…and some Splash!!

Last Sunday I did some jewellery shopping with the MIL. The BF played chauffeur for the day and drove us around. For once , he was placid throughout, not even uttering a single word of reproach , even though we left him out in the heat and sat in the air-conditioned shop for more than an hour!! Poor guy.

The jewellery store we were at, is an old reputed store. But I wasn’t satisfied with their service. Firstly,the staff was not so polite. I don’t know marathi, but I can make out the tone. And when someone speaks a little rudely to the MIL (who speaks real soft and decent) ,I know they are not all right. Secondly, they catered to people who came in after us. The MIL had already booked her stuff and we had come to just make the payments. It took them more than an hour just to prepare our bill. How efficient is that??

I mentioned this to the MIL and her answer surprised me. “How would you behave if you were asked to work on a Sunday”, she asked. Oh well…..now that she mentioned it, I agree I’d hate it. But not to the extent of venting my anger on others. I didn’t point out that ALL the staff members were rude…or that there were five staffers who not attending anyone, yet, were reluctant to attend to us. The impertinence!!

Anyway, remember that baby pool I spoke about earlier, well we got it inflated and all set for the twin’s first dip-in-cold-water session.

RS took to it like a fish (as expected), since this girl can’t be kept away from water for long. It was SS who was quite scared initially. He howled loudly the first time we dipped his feet into it. So BIL did the clever thing of introducing him to it gradually. First, just the feet. Then when SS cried, quickly taking him out and distracting him for some time. Then bringing him back for another dip, this time, up to the knees. He had to perform this exercise four times before SS was comfortable enough to sit in it and splash. RS, meanwhile had become a pro. She was splashing like crazy, flinging her toy fishes out of the pool, fishing for stuff that had settled at the bottom and over all , having a great time. Expectedly, she threw a royal fit when we tried to fish her out of the it.

Suffice to say, the pool is a big hit. We are going to have a regular dip session every weekend now !! Only problem being, I can’t find an proper place to store the inflated pool. Can’t deflate it because it requires a machine pump to inflate it (and we don’t have one!). Making a trip each week to the garage far away from home is not possible. Any suggestions, people?

Meanwhile, here are a few pics of the twins having their fun :-

Hunting for drowned stuff

Splashing his fish

Splashing her fish

 

Seeing the kids having such fun, I was more than tempted to hop in myself. But given the fragile strength of the pool and my *ahem* not-so-light-frame, I gave the thought a pass.

Its been ages since I went swimming…..primary reason being, I threaten to empty the pool as soon as I dive in(he he , seriously , not kidding ).

But I do look forward to the time I’ll be taking the twins for their first real swim. RS, no doubt will catch on quick. Its SS I’m worried about. He’s way too timid for his own good.

Hoping things change as they grow up a little more.

Summers are here…and in all this heat, a pool is just the right reprieve. This is the twin’s second summer and hopefully, they’ll handle it better than last year ( though they didn’t trouble us much then , except for getting up every half an hour throughout the night!!)

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Shopping on Saturdays…….

………..can be a daunting task. Specially, when the entire city comes to shop just when you do.

So you not only have to battle traffic, unruly cyclists and beggars, you have to fight for parking space, moving space and finally standing space at the payment counters. Exactly why the BF hates going out shopping.

But not last Saturday. No siree…he was all genial and compliant. And it made me wonder at the sudden turn of mood. How come he was all keen and eager to go shopping all of a sudden? No fights, no disagreements, no patao-ing and manao-ing activities from my side required!!

Anyhow, he was coming, and in turn saving me a trip in the sun (umm…small confession here. I can’t drive a four-wheeler. Whew. I feel so relieved after saying that !!) and I guess that is what makes me usually ignore his bad mood. On the way, we were planning to drop in to the BabyCenter outlet and get some gift vouchers for his friend. The owner of that store had a franchise of both Baby Center and John-Hill men’s apparel in one store. The BF expressed his desire to grab a pair of denims and so we went upstairs to check them out.

Where we spent the next 90 minutes.

Trying out different kinds of trousers and shirts.

And finally returning with 1 pair of denims, 2 corduroy trousers, 2 cargoes, 2 formal shirts and 1 casual wear shirt.

And he says I spend too much on my clothes . I will so kill him the next time he dares to say that !!

Anyway, making our purchase, we went on our way to the city. I bought the kids a nice portable swimming pool .They are quite the rage these days and what better time to make the kids get acquainted with cold water than summer?? Also bought two pairs of shoes for the twins which were an absolute steal (the BabyCenter store had some really ugly shoes for not less than 250/- a pair). And here I found shoes which were 60/- each!!! Considering that the twins will outgrow them in 2-3 months time , it seemed a decent buy.

From there on , we drove all the way to a shopping mall to get our monthly groceries. The MIL had given us a list of stuff to buy and we collected all the stuff in our trolley in record time.  One trick to handling men in a department store is to hand over the trolley to the man and let him maneuver it through the aisles. Believe me, it brings out the kid in them . I’ve seen men thoroughly enjoying the experience of navigating those trolleys, trying out different ways to make it turn this way and that. Almost as if he were testing his driving skills with that contraption on four wheels!!

 Purchases made, we drove back home where we must have downed litres of water because of the sizzling heat. It’s just March, and we’re burning. Absolutely HATE to think what’s going to happen in the next two months. This year, getting an AC is a MUST!! I’d feel so dreadful, sitting in an air-conditioned office where as my babies suffer in this sweltering heat!! In fact, I feel guilty already

Anyhow, before wrapping up this shopping-post, let me tell you all, I bought nothing for myself!!

See, how self-less I am .

(Hmphh. Drat this selflessness.)

((Am so gonna splurge next time round!!!))

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Back after an eventful weekend !!

Hello People!!

Am back after a hiatus of (gasp) two days!!

Not done , I tell you. I am losing my touch. Not done at all.

So , to cover up for all the lost time (and lost posts), am going to dedicate extra time to the blog today.

Do look forward to my escapades on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March . Will be posting the details throughout the day today

Awww…I know, you’ll drop by to check them out

(Keeping fingers crossed !!!)

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