things to do before 35

1) religiously maintain a blog :)
2) decide my status
3) europe
4) south america
6) japan
7) find my 'work' passion
8) till then, work with passion
9) learn to bike, then own a superbike
10) have/adopt a baby
11) update my 'things to do before 40' list

gender benders

One thing that hit me as i was reading page 2 of todays TOI edition - the article on ideal teacher - is the fact that all the 10 bachchas, whose high opinions were printed, referred to the teacher as a 'She'. thats not a bad thing :D
"The ideal teacher should not scold me. She should tell stories. She should make the lessons interesting" and so on...every one of the 10 kids, from grade 1 to grade 10, said it as it is!
And my thoughts started to fly. The english language does not genderize objects like french.
that being said, just imagine > Teacher = female, Chef = male, General Doctor = male, Gynecologist = female..the stereotyping continues. But in recent times, arent we talking about the gender benders decreasing, almost disappearing? or is it now?
i have had the privilege of having been taught by 5 he-teachers. and believe me, they were on par with the she-teachers. and yet they are a minority. is it a profession many opt to ignore?

and how is it that a woman cooking at home is not elevated to any high status nor paid a whopping sum, yet a man cooking at any hotel - from 7 stars to no stars - is given the status of a 'chef' with benefits and a handsome package thrown in (in most cases that is :D)
mom, if you ever get to read this, you are my 7 star chef!

an ode to jashan

He was born around 8pm on 14th of august. And from then on pumpkin is what I have called him and will do so until he holds a gun to my head! I have another 21 years! Or do I? considering the coorg clan is unique and protected and priviledged when it comes guns and gun laws….
Pumpkin and his mom are one bindaas combination. Rarely have I seen a first time mother so relaxed and chilled about her just-born. M didnt panic when the baby was crying, didnt panic when a newbie-to-babies held pumpkin, didnt panic when someone with a dreadful cold (read:me) played and multi-kissed pumpkin, didnt panic if pumpkin refused to be fed, didnt panic if he overfed; basically her panic button disappeared and her maternal instinct matured!

I'm proud of you, M. Proud of how you have dealt with pumpkin, pre and post production! :D

The 24-hr labor was nothing compared to finding a name. Choosing a name: never did I realize what an unnerving task it could be. He had to be named according to the star sign. At least one of his names - either the calling name or the official coorg name. Scouring through the net, I found a dozen names but none seemed truly fit for the new hero. His folks also had some choices, but nothing that got everyone’s approval. In the course of this hiliraious name-searching trip, (that came up with bodhan, jashith, bopanna, jeet, jeegar, and what nots), I came to realize why some folks (esp the malayalees) would prefer to pick out combinations of phonetics and or parental names, than to actually log in a high amount of cyber or otherwise footprint! more on this thought later.

And so finally, M & P picked a name. And how. They wrote down 4 choices and picked chits. The winner > Jashan Beliappa. And it worked out that both names fell under the star sign. I kind of consider it an apt name. What with coorgs closely linked to celebrations at the drop of any hat anywhere in the world. Especially, M & P.

M & P, i'm glad for your little Jashan, and I can only see pumpkin jashaning every step of the way! god bless you guys. My love and prayers with you always!

And by the way, pumpkin, you can hold me responsible for your calling name.

@ the lifetimers

there are some people who touch your life and then there are those who fly by. you've read the fwd on -for a season, -for a reason, -for a lifetime.

i'd like to start or rather restart my posts. and try to be more regular (the moderator in me laughs yet again - pip down i say).

i'll start. soon.