Older, wiser and more cynical

I have always seen the world with rose-tinted glasses. I have believed that being kind to others, reaching out to people in need, being humble, focusing on the small joys that life brings, putting in your best in everything you do is what makes life worth living. Do your work and do not worry about the results, is what our scriptures also say.

As I grow into middle age, I now know that these values just belong to children’s moral tales and scripture books. They do not work in real life.

Real life is draining, it strips you of all such naivete and idealism.

Values for the new world in my opinion are: Putting your self-interest above the others, keeping information to yourself and not sharing for mutual benefit, being vocal about your talents, issues that concern you and challenges that you face (forget about the pain and situation of others), share only your pain and problems to others, while keeping joys to yourself in order to gain sympathy. Be as opaque a human being as possible: be a social butterfly that flits from one flower to another, not a hardworking bee. Invest in relationships and friendships that help you gain something material.

Bees are getting extinct, anyways.

What do 6 Yr old boys talk about?

Here’s a sample 😁

Q: What will happen if our classroom gets flooded?

A: We will have to climb on the ceiling fans!

Q: What will happen if the entire universe gets flooded?

A: We will have to build a super strong submarine

Q: Will all the Gods die in the flood?

A: maybe most, but not Goddess Ganga. Because she’s a river, and how can she flood herself?

Q: Will we be saved if we go on the top of a volcano, when it floods?

A: arre no! Kya bol rahe ho aap? We will be blasted off by the volcano.

I didn’t know that floods are such a hot topic among kids.. Along with topics such as how to get a tiger cub as a pet, imagining the art teacher as a tortoise, and calling any one wearing spectacles, a scientist 😊

Oh to be 6 again!

Pearls of wisdom: from a 6 Yr old

Chinu has always been mature for his age. He makes astute observations of adult behaviour, draws to-the-point inferences from complex situations, and thinks through before commenting on any issue.

I was facing some complex emotional issue with a few adults who behave as if they are Dementors.

Though I do not want to burden my little one with such adult-world issues, he quickly gauges my mood.

He asked me what was wrong.. Without getting into details, I explained the situation to him.

Here’s what my little Yoda said, after thinking for some time:

Mamma, bad things happen in life. But why should we focus on bad things that are far away? Shouldn’t we focus on the happiness that we have here? You and I are talking, cuddling, laughing..

And remember, that love overpowers the bad, cruel things.

I feel blessed to have this wonderful, gentle, warm being in my life.

Thank you, Universe!

Decoded an important word today

puppet

/ˈpʌpɪt/

noun

noun: puppet; plural noun: puppets

a movable model of a person or animal that is typically moved either by strings controlled from above or by a hand inside it.

“a puppet show”

synonyms:

marionette, glove puppet, hand puppet, finger puppet, rod puppet, shadow puppet

“a puppet show”

a person, group, or country under the control of another.

“a former revolutionary hero who is now a puppet of the state”

synonyms:

pawn, tool, instrument, cat’s paw, poodle, creature, hostage, counter, cog, dupe;

mouthpiece, minion, figurehead;

informal:
flunkey, lackey, stooge

“he was little more than a puppet of his aides”

Books: 2019 First Quarter Update

Non-Fiction:

1. Sapiens: A Brief history of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harris
2. Why we are, who we are by Swagata Deb
3. Ikigai: The japanese secret to a long and happy life: hector garcia
4. The history of india for children-Vol 1 by Archana Garodia Gupta
5. Mindset -Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential
   by Carol Dweck
6. Everything you wanted to know about freelance journalism By Kavitha Rao and Charukesi Ramadurai

Comics/Graphic Novels:

1. Tintin and the Crab with the Golden Claw
2. Tintin and the Shooting Star
3. Asterix in Belgium
4. Asterix and Cleopatra
5. Asterix and the Olympic Games
6. Asterix the Gaul
7. Tintin in Tibet

Fiction:

1. Me before you: Jojo Moyes
2. Sense of an Ending: Julian Barnes

Attempted to read, but could not complete
3 men in a boat
If God was a Banker-Ravi Subramanian
Hit Refresh- Satya Nadella
Life is What You Make it-Preeti Shenoy

Which of these books gave me the absolute joy of reading? Did I learn anything from these books?

I loved Sapiens, because anthropology is fascinating, and Yuval Noah Harris is a master-storyteller. From Mindset, I learnt something which I needed to know all these years-what makes X person successful, and Y unsuccessful, despite Y being the more ‘talented’ and ‘gifted’ one. It is a very tediously written book with the author trying to distort every situation to match her pet theory, but for giving me this brilliant piece of knowledge, I am grateful.

Pure reading joy? That would be Tintin in Tibet. This one shows Tintin’s emotional side, captures the beauty and brutality of the Himalayas in the drawings, highlights the deep friendship between Haddock and Tintin, and offers a humane perspective of the Abominable snowman. Love love love.

Disappointing? Sense of an Ending. I felt that the premise was hyped up, there were too many details, character ruminations…but it ends up to nothing spectacular. My friend was up in raves with the ending, like many other readers. But I was left nonplussed. I had more questions than answers at the end of it, and that was quite disappointing to me. I had similar feelings when I read On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. Though it was touted to be realistic, I felt otherwise. That the author manipulates the story and the characters to such an extent, that their actions ring unnatural and untrue.

Utter trash? I have read only a few pages of If God Was a Banker, and maybe it is not fair to judge the plot based on this. But the language, characterizations are all appalling. The author describes his female characters thus: Natasha was a bomb.

Godawful!

If I ever see IIT or IIM or both in any author’s credentials, I swear I will NEVER buy or read that book.

Font Blindness

is a real thing!

I am in the middle of an exercise at work, which among other things, requires me to check and compare fonts of a testing url.

This exercise has confirmed what I’ve suspected since my college days.

I am font blind.

I cannot understand the nuances of a font, nor can I differentiate between fonts of a similar font family.

I can find the visual difference between cursive and non-cursive fonts (thank god) and some such broad differences.

But boy, I cannot really pinpoint the difference if shown fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman…I mean all look the SAME to me.

I remembered this funny conversation in one of my fav shows, The Middle. Where Brick says, ”If you can talk about fonts, you can talk to anyone”

He goes on to form his own Font Club in the later episodes.

Guess that’s one (or one more) club I won’t be getting into anytime!

Brick talks about Fonts…

Don’t kill my husband!

(in which I almost sent an email to my husband’s boss for overworking him)

Dear Mr. K,

This is Raindrops, wife of your colleague Y writing in to you. I got your email from Y’s phone.

Y is not aware of this email. Please pardon the subterfuge, but I wanted to share something that is disturbing me deeply.

Let me get straight to the point.

When Y joined your team, he was excited to work with you and learn and contribute in a new, interesting domain. He looks up to you as an individual, and as a professional, applauds your passion and commitment to your work.

However, since the time he has joined your team, Y has been working over 13 hours every day. He does not smoke (thank god for big mercies)…so unlike others he doesn’t take frequent breaks, does not eat in time and gets zero time to exercise. Needless to say, this kind of lifestyle is extremely unhealthy.

While I have been supportive of all his career choices, and Y has always been a workaholic, I am extremely distressed by the work culture in your team. Do you think that working such long hours will bring forth any fresh ideas? People will turn into brain-dead zombies, if they continue like this.

From what Y tells me, I believe that you are a brilliant person, a go-getter who is married to his work.

But Y is married to me, and is a father to a 6-year-old child. We need him to be healthy, hale and hearty and ALIVE.

I am sure Y will gain career accolades by working with you, but I don’t want them to be posthumous.

I request you to consider having more streamlined work hours. As a leader, I am sure it is to your benefit that your team stays active, alert and healthy.

Y rarely complains, and I am solely responsible for this email. I hope you will take my email in the right spirit.

He is happy with his new role, and I do not want to push him for a job change.

Thank you for reading. Hoping for some positive action from your end,

Regards,

Raindrops

I obviously did not send this email.. But how I wish I could!

Sob 😩

Happy Women’s Day

Sometimes I wonder if I’m abnormal. I do not share the same interests associated with most of the members of my gender.

I HATE shopping, HATE hanging out in malls, cannot stand kitty parties, nor do I enjoy talking too much, or attending parties and similar events.

Jewellery does not fascinate me, nor does make up.

I rarely gossip.

I am a minimalist when it comes to clothes, accessories and make up.

I own exactly 2 shades of lipstick, 2 rarely used nail paint bottles, and 1 foundation.

The less said about by footwear collection, the better it would be. All my footwear fall under the super ugly, but really comfortable category.

When it comes to clothes, I always choose comfort over style. Cottons rule my wardrobe.

Does all this make me less of a woman? Or am I also contributing to the stereotype of a woman?

Or am I simply a bore? 🤔

I do not know the answers, but I am finding it tougher to connect to members of my gender as the years go by. Not many have similar shared interests.

I love cycling, reading, talking about newer ways of learning, interacting with children, walking a lot, talking about what’s happening in the world and how it can impact our next generation, trying different cuisines, but prefer the food I grew up on, speaking in multiple languages. I love travelling to hilly places and beaches both, spending time with my child, and my family. I can spend an entire day in a green park without getting bored.

Maybe I’m a bore.. And an old soul.

But I like myself. 😌

Happy Women’s Day to me!

Life updates

since I last posted…

From a SAHM, I’m now a working mamma. How I love it!

Chinu is now 6

Husband works out of another city, visits on weekends (sometimes on alternate ones). How did we end up here?!

My parents have moved in with us

I lost ____ (too personal to share)

Life moves on…

Hey Ram!