Sense and Sensitivity

Yesterday I was watching an episode of FRIENDS where Rachel and Ross hire a male nanny. The 3 women are happy to accept a man who is a nanny but the 3 men find it difficult to accept a male nanny. Joey and Ross portray their manliness by commenting about Sandy who is a man and a nanny "That's like a woman wanting to be a...” Ross justifies himself to be sensitive and the male nanny to be too sensitive.

The episode was very funny and I imagined how I would react to a "too sensitive" person. There are rules in life and one such prominent rule, I grew up learning “why men can’t cry” or “why men are not allowed to cry”. Always when a boy cries, he is pacified not to cry because crying makes him a girl and if he doesnt cry he is a man. The opposite of crying is laughing. Both men and women laugh. Why cant men and women cry too? Why is crying gifted to women folk alone? If a person cries the person is branded very sensitive. So in the episode Ross narrates how his father rescues him from becoming one of the very sensitive people like Sandy, the Manny (man nanny is Manny according to Chandler).

I am left here wondering will Rachel have the mind to go out with Sandy. All she could do was hire him as a nanny. If it was me I can sure go out with Ross but Sandy is too much test for my patience. I have come across so many Sandys and have deliberately avoided them.

After giving a serious thought on crying, now I know why men are not allowed to cry. If both men and women cry, then there is no one strong to console the cry baby! So if the woman cries, the man will be trained to be strong and console the woman. Why can’t it be the other way around? Men will cry and the women console the men? Well it is good to write this in a blog. As always some questions are better unanswered. Why are there rules different for men and women? Why the double standards?

Let alone the sense in the above argument running through my mind, I am unable to address the statement which Ross and Joey comment “That's like a woman wanting to be a...” The examples they give to complete the sentence sound hilarious but is sure offensive.

All said I have no idea what to conclude... Life still remains a question mark on LOS (Line of Sensitivity.)

A Release, A Dilemma and A Question Mark - Part IV (VBS - Volunteer Bench Sceme)

So in the series of my "Bench" marks, here I am in bench again from monday :) I know how I enjoyed my bench life in mysore but I would sure want to see how it is in chennai. So I again struggled for my release with my same old "health issues" ;) I am unwell of the shift. 2-11 might suit others but I am undergoing a lot of stress and strain. I prefer working 8-11 instead :D My dilemma killed me as couple of my colleagues were confusing me about my reputation and visibility in this project. My impulsiveness and dilemma pushed me to a planned release. I got a release after a similar struggle. Now the question mark is what is my next project? And I am back on track this time with my CAT only that I am adding GMAT to it now... I am denined of my rightful promotion because of "Business Requirements" and "Recession". All this clubbing together is again forcing me to really really try hard for my MBA plans...
My guitar is rusted... My french class is still a question mark :(
I am just waiting to move into the city where I can get back on track with both guitar and french!

I can easily be satisfied and feel content. I hate complaining and I always compare myself with someone who has no food for the next meal. I am better off than half the world's population and find myself stupid to crib on trivial problems. No promotion, No sleep, No proper health! All these are teeny tiny problems compared to what most of them around me are undergoing. I am happy not complaining :)

Turning 22 and the Art of STILL Remaining Single!!

I am turning 22 in another 4 months. Growing old scares me and soon I will be pushed to a situation where I will be made to choose a guy to live with the rest of my life. Only 22years of living in this world has mademy parents to pressure me into this.

22years of living - well that includes 2years of working experience. In the corporate world, 2years of working experience is nothing. This being my case, my close friend calls me up on a early sunday morning to ask me for an opinion and help her out of it. Apparently she has a year less experience in working than me. Now her confusion is to choose between her career which has just started and marrying a guy. She has a deadline by Jan 2009 to get married and if she misses it she gets to renew it only by 2011. Sad right? "Iyer guys" wish they all stay in India. Somehow they manage to get settled or work in a froeign country :( pathetic situation... What will this poor thing do when she is married to the guy who will have to go away from India? With just a bare work experience she cant establish something new outside at the moment...

Why cant she marry at 25? Well the question is a bad one I tell you because men (Iyer men) these days prefer "A professionaly qualified Home Makers". For what joy is left to god! Poor gal toils until 12th to get into an engineering college and again toils to compete in this unfair world with her counterpart and when it comes to her career she is expected to forget it for the sake of "men folk and family" per-se. Back to the confusion in decision making - Career or Marraige? If she misses her marraige now she will be forced to marry someone when she is 25. 25years is the worst time to get married. The gal gets to meet too many men and is very happy with her financial independance. With the clause of matrimonial Home Making, she will be devastated totally. So the end result is her career is at stake either way.

Forgeting all this and god loving her she gets a very understanding guy where she gets to compromise little, I came with 2 suggestions -

1. Marry by Jan 2009, Work hard for a year until Jan 2010 (living apart) and get a very good work where he is which is very much likely to happen. short term living apart, long term happily lived ever after...
2. Make a guy fall in love with you, who understands your need for a career, then marry him as and when you please.

Neither of them was accepted by her and she has now chosen to marry by 25. I then was forced to warn her of the side effects -

1) Her biological clock will start ticking faster when she is 25.
2) Her choice would be limited.
3) She will have to cater to her mother's cribbings which will be much more than what it is now.

Anyhow life is so complicated and a girl is with so much pressure to decide between career and her marraige! I always wondered why men are the bread-winners?? Its her life; her decision. Hope it turns out to be the best for her...

All said and done, I always believe in there is always more than a solution to a given problem ;) Life keeps going on inspite of any number of problem one has till one dies!

Taare Zameen Par

I wanted to see some movie this weekend. All the shows were showing blue online for the weekend. Thursday evening I checked again for some update. Luckily got hold of good seats for the 10am show :) Taare Zameen Par!! After watching Jab We Met until 2am the previous night, TZP was refreshing. I cried after a long time and felt embarassed for crying. Later when I came out and saw other gals' mascara and kajal smudged I was very happy :D

I came back home and was all exicted about the dyslexia kid. Then my dad surprised me with my flashback of dyslexia. I then remembered how I was tortured to write extra Running Handwriting notebooks and Workbooks... I still remember my 2nd class teachers, she helped me write properly and who gave me second chances in filling the blanks and match the following ;) With no effort from her side and just a second chance to answer all the answers, I passed couple of exams with great effort.....

Back to the movie - a story with no mean classmate or bullying brother which a normal story would have. Instead a caring brother and an understanding classmate. The mother's role is portrayed very naturally without loud cries. The song "Maa" is very sentimentally picturised where everyone was crying irrespective of age. Boarding school sure is scary!!!

All said the movie is simple and perfect.

Honk Honk Honk!!!

The other day I was travelling with my dad in our 2 wheeler. We were going out and were held in 2 major places - The Airport and Kathipara Junction. The traffic jam was terrible and maddening. Thank god it was not very hot...

My dad's irritation was increasing exponentially. If one wondered the irritation was because of the traffic jam, it was because of the noisy HONKS around us. After we crossed kathipara junction, we followed 1 particular car and started honking at the car unnecessarily. When i asked WHY?, he lectured me why one must horn and why one must surely not. His theories were too correct, I sat back silent with no points to argue. But chasing that car and irritating the driver was madness.(Madness-the car fellow must hav felt tat;Fun- it was my word heh hee heh :P)
Anyone in a traffic jam would know a person cannot move.(That is why they have named it as a jam or bottleneck) This being obvious, I fail to understand as to why people keep Honking aimlessly? I combined my analysis with my dad's theory.
People have 3 reasons to honk while driving :

1. Give me way you idiot I am going to overtake you. I own this big beautiful fast moving Pulsar!MOVE!!
2. I dont know what to do in this traffic jam. I am testing everyone's patient honking. If I Honk, the jam will get cleared.
3. You made a mistake while driving, drive carefully buddy!

The first one is really irritating. we had fun chasing one such Pulsar guy and made him cry and say "sorry uncle", while i sat back giggling.
The Second one is really funny. We chased this "stupid honking car guy" until his destination honking non-stop . I hope he never honks again. (you reap what you sow)
And the last one is supposed to be a genuine honker... The person tries to talk to you and warn you honking. We forgive the person.

People here in chennai seriously have no idea what traffic rules are. All they want is to reach theid destination soon. What they tend to forget is "Dude everyone wants to reach safe and fast!"

Next time if someone with a kercheef tied to his nose wearing a helmet in a hero honda chases you, mind it... its my dad and you had apparently honked without purpose.