A question every parent dreads! Especially with a kid like me - a living nightmare I say! One incident from my childhood I can never forget - the day I confronted my parents with the question and caught them off guard!

It was that time of my life for my parents to reveal some selective information about the 'reproduction mystery' and they assumed I will be approaching my mom. But no, I thought that my dad was a better person to ask as he used to work in a med company, so he must be having more knowledge about the human body than ma.

One night me, ma and dad are having dinner, watching TV. Out of the blue,
Me: Daddy, so how big is the egg inside a woman? This much? (Gesturing the size if a water melon - naive/silly to apply the rule of direct proportion to a hen's egg and a human being's)
Ma: (Shocked, starts eating faster)
Dad: (Unperturbed) No No, it is microscopic
Me: (Confused) Oh! How is a baby made then?
Ma: (Gives me the look)
Dad: (Slightly irritated) There is a certain cell called 'sperm' to combine with the egg and that becomes a baby
Ma: (Finishes dinner in a hurry, rushes inside the kitchen)
Me: Where is the sperm?
Dad: (Highly uncomfortable) Its found in men
Me: So how does this sperm meet the egg?
Ma: Gestures from the kitchen behind dad's back to shut up or she'll come and beat me
Dad: errr.......mmm....Ya, that I shall explain another day, now eat quietly (of course that day never came, thank God and ma!!!)

By now I am quiet, thanks to mom's threat and dad's sudden interest in TV and not wanting to look at me. But my brain would not stop wondering. I suddenly remember my paternal grand parents have 10 children. Unable to contain myself I spurt with much excitement

Me: Oh yes, paati and thatha (grandma and grandpa) must have done this 'meeting' ten times no?

No reply. Awkward silence. This time dad's appetite is lost. Off he goes into the kitchen to keep his plate.
And the lecture I got from ma the next day!!!

Mr. X takes fills a leave application in his office, takes 2 weeks off, goes to Malta with his family. He returns on a Saturday, so that he can go back to work on Monday. Unfortunately, he gets food poisoning from the plane food. He calls up his office Monday morning to inform them that he'll be coming on Tuesday because of his health and he needs to go to the doctor first. What do you think will his boss's reaction be?

Will he say 'No problem. Take care of yourself. Make sure to get a note from the doctor though' casually or will he sound a bit cross as his employee stretched his holiday by one more day?

If Mr.X had not been on a holiday, but felt sick one Monday morning and called to inform his office, would the reaction of his boss be the same or slightly less cynical?

On the other hand, Mr. X would try his best to go to work despite his health, or end up feeling guilty/scared of the consequences.

Falling sick is not a crime definitely! Why fear?

Mr. X has 20 days of leave in a year. He wants to take 5 days off for his best friend's wedding in June. What does he tell his boss? The answer in 80% probability would be 'Its my sister's/brother's/cousin's wedding' or 'a relative is in the hospital and his condition is serious' at a later stage. The truth is not a strong enough reason, you see.

If an employee get 20days of holidays in a year, he/she HAS EARNED IT. IT IS NOT A FAVOUR BESTOWED BY THE MANAGEMENT. How anybody wishes to spend those 20days is entirely up to them, as long as they inform the management of the dates beforehand, not the plans. But both the management and the employees feel otherwise in some corner of their mind.

The company is not to be blamed - its rule states 20days, but it is a person usually, who is interested in the details and feels free to decide whether taking those days off is fairly reasonable or not, in many cases.

There are so many incidents where the boss threatens the employee of not getting a promotion/raise if they are not 'hard-working'(read in between the lines), women returning to work after their maternity leave are given a step-motherly treatment, extra-hours, over-time is unacknowledged, unappreciated. None punishable by law when done in a subtle manner, but nonetheless not acceptable.

Having said that, if the management is in fact, 'open-minded' like we feel it ought to be, how many employees would not take an advantage of the system?

Is there any balance that can be attained without compromising the interests of the management as well as the employees?

Its a weekday morning. 8.30. I must be at the station, waiting for the train but I am on my bed, sleeping. My mobile rings. Half asleep, I open one eye to see who it is. Its mom.
Me: Will talk to you later
She keeps the phone. She calls again after 20minutes. I am extremely annoyed in my half-asleep state.
Me: Didn't I say I will call you later? Please don't keep calling me.

A couple of hours later, I wake up feeling guilty for being so mean to her. So I call her. She picks up the phone and with a voice laden with concern and worry she says
'How are you feeling now?'

Me: Actually ma I am having the flu. Took a strong dose of medicines, I hope its not H1N1...'
Ma: When I called you and heard no noise in the background, I realized you must be at home. Something must be wrong - you must not be feeling well.'
Me: I am sorry I spoke to you rudely ma. I didn't realize in my sleep.
Ma: Its OK kanna
Then she goes on talking about what to eat, what not to eat...

The fact that I spoke to her rudely was not even an issue to her. My health was. Sometimes I wonder if I can ever have it in me to be so forgiving. EVER?

I guess when mothers celebrate your kicks inside their womb, they start forgiving you for every 'kick' of yours in every stage of your life.

One day I had asked AB to do the dishes and make some dal before going to work, so that I can finish up the task easily after I come from work. AB didn't get a chance to do that as he was busy with other stuff. That day at work AB mentioned this to some random colleagues.

One desi MCP, was shocked to hear that AB does household chores. In fact he was not even prepared to believe it.

When I came to know this,
Me: Didn't you give him another shock and tell him that I go to work despite being a woman?
AB: His wife works too. She still does all the work in the house. Poor thing.
Me: What non-sense! She should meet me once! Anyway, what did you tell him?
AB: I said 'You are a pig'. When he asked me why, I said 'If I say you are a male chauvinistic pig, would you even understand what it means? PIG!'
Me: :D GRINS :D

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes."
~Clare Boothe Luce

AB introduced me to his friend and colleague G a couple of years ago. G introduced me to his girlfriend for 4-5 years, Lk. Lk and I became very good friends.

G and Lk broke up last year.

Awkward awkward awkward. I was still friends with Lk and G. AB was still friends with Lk and G. But, G broke up with Lk.

She would call me and weep for hours. She would call AB and ask him to fix up things. Every time AB confronted G, he would avoid the topic and never say a word.

Lk on the other hand would tell me everything that might have lead to their break up. She said what habits of his were annoying, how he didn't give her any time or importance and the worst bit was, he moved out of her life without giving a reason. He broke up with her and she didn't know why. All her efforts to know the answer only made him block her all the more from his life. She counted on AB to get some answers for her, but G never said anything.

It broke my heart to see her shatter like that. All she kept on saying amidst her tears was 'why why why'. I unknowingly grew to dislike G because of the way he broke up. Whenever he came home with other friends of AB, I was a little less nice towards him. Every time I saw him, or even his name on AB's mobile, I could only think of Lk's helplessness. And when I came to know G had asked his parents to search a girl for him, I was furious. I only knew one side of the story, but that controlled my judgement.

Luckily, Lk had loads of supportive friends. They all helped her move on. A few months back she introduced me to a guy she was seeing and planning to wed. It felt really nice to see the smile back on her face.

A few weeks before, G and the gang came home for a few drinks. G announced that he was going back to India for good. In his drunk state, with watery eyes, he spoke about Lk for the first time. He said 'I am so lonely without Lk. I cannot get myself to think of anyone else'.

The words sunk into me heavily. These were the exact words Lk had said for G sometime back. As my mind was debating over what could have gone wrong, everybody else coaxed him to talk about his pain, go back to her, work things out. But he didn't utter a word. He remained silent all the while.

Yesterday he went back to India. A thought crossed my mind. I asked AB if G said anything, any little thing about Lk at all. He had not. I realized, G never ever spoke ill of her to anyone, even in his drunk state. He quietly and voluntarily became the monster who was held responsible for the relationship to break, even by his own friends. That gentleman took every blame for her honour and dignity.

Was I was hasty in judging him before? He still respected her, probably still loved her. Then why did he break up with her?

I guess I will never know, nor will others, because he will never let anybody judge her.

My nerves, my poor nerves! Dangling in my head, connected and cross connected in all the wrong sort of ways. I don't believe God makes mistakes, so in my case I am tempted to think I truly am the guinea pig of God's 3 year old kid.

Why else would I get upset about one issue, but blow another out of proportion?
When someone hurts me and I confront them, why do I cry despite my resolve not to? Why would I get annoyed at someone but victimize somebody else? Why would tears swell in my eyes when I am infuriated beyond limits? That's the last thing I need when I am angry, I try to shoo them away but they keep coming! I am not sad, neither am I feeling weak and definitely not sorry, there's no dust around... why do tears come? On the other hand, why would I crack really good jokes when I feel nervous? Why do I become a kid when I am happy (for all 'non-kid'-ish reasons too)? The only unadulterated feeling I guess is to feel brave. (Thank God and his 3year old kid for that!)

Connections are all messed up on this circuit board. Boy, the explanations I have to come up with due to this messy wiring!