Thursday, November 13, 2008

you've come a long way baby!

(this is a post 'inspired' by this post by 'tys on ice')

women sure have come a long way! (where have i heard this line before? :P )

i still remember when people used to talk about women being born as daughters of their fathers, then becoming wives of their husbands and then mothers of their sons! the idea was that women always got their identity in society through the men in their lives!

times have changed, and how!

most of us guys wouldn't such statements today! (actually we wouldn't dare make such statements for fear of being clobbered by the women in our lives! :P )

and most of the men living in our housing complex get their identities from their wives, who in turn get their identities from the kids... so i am known as the 'big boss's' hubby who in turn is P's/ S's mother!

what we are witnessing in our own lifetimes is the evolution (?) of man...

the man of the 70s bossed around and made it clear to everyone who cared to listen who was the boss! (most of the times he was allowed by the boss at home to project such an image to massage his male-ego in places where it mattered... which was usually in front of other bossy men!)

the man of the 80s was the cool, silent and strong types... (actually, most of the time he didn't know what to say! and he knew he would lose the argument anyway... so best to stay silent!)

the man of the 90s was the one who got in touch with his feminine side! (and not just his female friends & colleagues!) and that's when the male cosmetics industry witnessed a boom of sorts... and men discovered the pains and pleasures of waxing too!

but the man of the 21st century has reached the pinnacle... he now has found the perfect balance of the yin and the yang within himself!
look around you and you'll find men carrying babies, changing diapers, rocking them to sleep, helping do the dishes, helping with the kids' school-work, attending open-house at school... you get the idea!
(this is the point where most women readers will want their hubbies to read this post and convince them that they are stuck in some hoary past and that they need to do all this if they are to be considered an evolved man!)

but here's the real deal... (this is where i let the cat out the bag!)

- men with babies attract attractive women
- by attending open-house at school you get to meet the 'interesting' teacher the other fathers have been talking about!
- when you have a baby in your arms or a kid with you, you can walk up to the most gorgeous looking woman anywhere and strike up a conversation.. if they have not already asked you for the kid's name!
- going grocery shopping allows you to strike up a conversation with some of the 'pyt' mothers who just love helping men choose the best detergent and other things... (and your wife's wondering why you picked up a brand which was never tried before?)
- and helping out with household chores ensures you get fed your meals on time (with a few other perks thrown in for good measure!) :P
- you can buy clothes for your better half and ask for help again... and you can get away by making statements like 'yeah, she's about your size'... or 'do you think this is a good color or is too sexy?'
- and since we can't try on women's perfumes you can actually ask one of those willing, helpful ladies to dab some on her wrist so that you can smell it and compare notes!

.... well, i guess you get the general idea! :P

i guess the man of the 2020s will be a completely transformed animal while the woman would have completely 'arrived'... and it might finally become difficult to differentiate between the sexes any more!

Monday, November 10, 2008

we owe him big-time!

we owe our son big-time! at least the 'big boss' owes him big-time!

he averted a major disaster in our household! no, we are not talking about him intervening in one of our squabbles... this disaster registered far higher on the 'domestic richter' scale than even the biggest temper tantrum the 'big boss' and i would have thrown at each other!

our 24-hour maid literally gave us notice when she was away visiting her family over the weekend! she was told by her well-wishers and family that she would get paid much better than what we were paying her! she personally didn't want to leave but the pressure on her to give us notice and leave was too much, i guess... and so she gave notice!

the 'big boss' is not someone to brood over such calamities for too long... after having fretted and fumed for a couple of minutes she promptly swung into action and discussed her plan A with me... which was to hike her salary by a certain amount (which was still way off from what was being demanded)... and as plan B, she start contacting everyone in her cell-phone address book asking for help in finding a suitable replacement...

while all this was happening our kids got the gist of what was happening and kept trying to get more information out of their mother...

today the 'big boss' was supposed to have a 'woman-to-woman' chat with the maid after she got back from work in the evening. but our son reaches home from school in the afternoon.

after she got back home, the maid told 'big boss' about the conversation our son (who's all of 8) had with her...

he asked her why she was leaving and whether it was because of money... she said yes and that she was going to get paid more elsewhere... he asked her how much we paid her and how much
she was expecting... he then told her that once we combine our houses (we had recently bought the neighboring apartment which we are leasing out) in the near future he would pay her more than double the amount she was expecting!
the sincerity with which he said this made her laugh and melted her heart!

and then when 'big boss' came back from work he also put up a heart-felt appeal to her on behalf of the maid!

the 'big boss' and i later discussed this and we felt quite amazed and touched at the same time... at the maturity and sensitivity he displayed in this situation... and we didn't for a moment think that he was acting 'too big for his boots'!

and so peace prevails for yet another day at the guruprasad household! :)

Saturday, November 08, 2008

i need some solace!

yeah, i need some solace!

why, you ask?

when you go for a bond flick, after sacrificing precious sleep, you expect to be entertained... you expect to get introduced to freaky gizmos and gadgets... you expect edge-of-the-seat action... you expect technical brilliance... you expect class and pizzazz and more... (and the women of course!)

and the least you expect is a classy opening credit sequence...

don't you all agree?

and the last thing you expect is a sentimental bond! and i just can't picture bond holding on to a dying man and feeling senti and all...

if you look at 'quantum of solace' in isolation i guess you would rate it as a decent action flick... like international khiladi or something!
but this flick did not have any iota of the class that one has come to expect of bond films! as one of the friends in the group said after the 90 minutes dragged itself to an end - 'i mean, how difficult can it be to make a good bond film? just put in some funky gadgets, some exciting stunts, some great chase scenes, some mind-blowing ladies, some torrid scenes, and some excuse of a plot! i can't believe they couldn't manage something as simple that!'

well the excuse of a plot was definitely there. no doubt about it! but the rest of the formula was forgotten completely!

i guess the producers and the director forgot one cardinal rule of sequels - if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it!

so if you haven't seen the quantum of solace yet, i would advice you to wait for it to be shown on hbo or star movies! especially if you are a bond fan!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

i am your radha tonight!

tonight i felt
how deeply the gopis longed
for their dark-skinned kanha.

i now understand
why the jamuna sighs with longing
and the kadamba sheds her leaves
in despair.

i feel like a calf
searching for her mother,
lost, alone, heart-broken.

i am like radha
sitting serenely by the jamuna,
tenderly caressing your humble flute
bearing the pain with grace.

secure in the knowledge
that you will return,
but knowing not how to resign
to the fact that you will never stay!