THE DIARY OF A HOUSEWIFE

Knowing that I was in the publishing industry a friend approached me with her novel. It had been three years since she had written the book but didn’t know what to do as far as getting it published was concerned. She asked me to first read and give my opinion as a professional. I did that and I loved her proof. I decided to help her get it published but all my contacts failed and none of the publishers wanted to come forward with a new author. They needed established authors who could bring in the money for them. Not to give up on good talent, I then decided to publish it myself. A tough task indeed. I had no idea about what it takes to become an entrepreneur.  I was also worried if I had what it takes to be an entrepreneur. But I read somewhere that all it takes to begin is the desire and the initiative. And whoever wrote it was right. I had two goals, one to ensure that my friend Sapna Bhog’s words and story was read and the other was to do it myself.   ...

My friend an investment specialist bowing to my entreaties has become a guest blogger on my blog to give some special investment advice... Just the other day I was trying to help a friend with a serious medical condition he was diagnosed with. I was entrusted the job of finding a good but “decently priced” hospital for him. Just to get things cleared up, I asked his wife if he was medically insured. Being self employed, obviously, he had no company paid medical benefits to fall back upon. Fortunately, his wife knew that he had taken a medical insurance policy. When I asked how much medical insurance cover he had, she said he had a cover of Rs.2 lakhs. Seeing the look on my face, she thought maybe she was wrong and then corrected herself and said, “No, sorry, it’s 5 lakhs.” Clearly, she didn’t know how much it was. I asked her to show me the policy and she didn’t know where it was kept. With a figure between Rs.2 and 5 lakhs to work on, I was confused which hospital I should cho...

"What other people think of me is none of my business." "Life is too short to waste time on speculating what other people think about you. "If they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you." "What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself." Heard these before? All the time right! Yes, living life on your own terms is what all of us should aim for. After all true happiness lies within us and not outside. Happiness dependent on the approval of others, being a people pleaser at the cost of your own peace of mind is surely not the way to go. However, what strikes me as a little selfish and egocentric is the fact that all these quotes say that your bliss may just be at the cost of someone else and their happiness. Time and time again I read about not caring about what other people think of you or I’v...

There are many men in my life. My two boys, my husband and my father are the most favourite of them all. However, there are some others who have stolen my heart.                               Just the other day I came across an article about the very debonair and suave Prime Minister of Canada.   I said to myself now this is a man I would love to know more about. The Canadian Prime Minister has held office for less than a year and he is dominating headlines across the globe. Justin Trudeau may have been born with a silver spoon but he sure knows how to hold his own and make a statement. His popularity increases each day. He doesn’t shy away from taking a stand on controversial issues, shaking a leg on the floor doing a bhangra wearing a kurta pyjama, or striking impressive yoga poses and even flirting with the Queen on Twitter and most importantly being a family man.  There are webs...

Very very confused and muddled I have attempted a write up about being nice vs being a pushover... A pushover as per the dictionary is a person who's easy to fool or influence. Someone who is easily taken advantage of and is easily defeated. A pushover in other words is a person who is pushed to do stuff he really doesn’t want to do and is actually uncomfortable doing. Why then are pushovers so common? A young mom I was speaking to yesterday told me how frustrated she was because being in a joint family was not as easy as she had thought it was. She had had to quit her job, look after all the other members of the family with no support from her other family members especially her younger sister in law who wouldn’t lift a hand to help her. She had to even shop for her most intimate needs because she was too lazy to step out of the house. While I stared at her with my mouth agape wondering what I would have done in a similar situation she continued, “Yes, I am a pushov...

Do you know I menstruate...so unclean and embarrassing, isn't it (that’s how the Trust of the Haji Ali Dargah described it)! What will God say? This dirty contaminated impure woman …how dare she even think about coming into my house, tainting it with her filthy blood, even her shadow soils my pure house.  Seriously? Let’s here for a moment assume hypothetically that the power above or God as we like to term him or her is in fact a male. Is that how God actually would feel about his own creation, his daughters, his wives, his mothers, his sisters…dirty, impure, and contaminated? Isn’t it because of this biological truism that, please don’t forget women have no control over, that the marvel of creation and birth in reality happens.  But all you get to hear about from the same sons and husbands you have given birth to and carried in your womb for 9 months that you are unclean and impure. Who are these so called protectors of God and religion to pass a judgement such as...

“ Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”                                                             Ralph Waldo Emerson There are so many things I am grateful for, indebted to the power above for the opportunity to feel so. Isn’t it amazing that there are people and circumstances at every turn in life who/that make you feel that you are blessed?                              Gratitude is a very simple feeling but oh so so fulfilling. In recent times I had forgotten to be thankful for everything that I have or come across. I have struggled to find things to be grateful...

I am not a human nor am I an animal. But I exist on earth, in India. I am of utmost importance to these humans, at least in places such as cities and towns. I stand and see everything that goes on but can’t move to lend a hand to anyone in need; nor can I stop anyone from wrongdoing. I am just there, a permanent fixture assisting the flow of traffic. I am …a traffic signal. Day in and day out I flash red, green or amber and everyone watches me, because, frankly speaking, a lot depends on me. I mean, I am not being proud or snobbish, just stating facts. The day I am not working everything goes topsy turvy. Not that when I am working everything is absolutely fine. People don’t really like it when I stop them or warn them to stop, they just don’t want to be bothered in their daily pursuit to nothingness. Rush, rush, rush is all they know, unconcerned with anything else other than their own lives. I see all kinds…the rich in their fancy shining cars, the poor hanging around...

He loved her and she loved him His kisses sucked out her whole past and future or tried to He had no other appetite She bit him she gnawed him she sucked She wanted him complete inside her Safe and Sure forever and ever Their little cries fluttered into the curtains –T ed Hughes, Crow, 1972                                   She loved him. Soooooooo... much. She couldn’t live without him, no, she wouldn’t survive without him. He was always there for her, showering all his attention on her. He made her feel special. He treated her like a princess. She could do anything for him. She had no one except him but she wasn’t lonely. She didn’t need anyone else. Her dad was the only one she wanted in her life. Her teachers at school looked at her with worry in their eyes wondering why she wasn’t like the other kids in her class. Talkative, boisterous, lively, playful, she was not....