Happiness Matters

Dear Readers, It's been quite sometime that I have not been able to blog. There were too many things going on - workfront, my Mom's health not keeping well etc. Now that all these are sorted, thought of resuming my blogging again. Just few days ago, when my maid asked me for a glass of water, I was looking for the designated glass which I usually give her and others who help us in our daily household work. Just then I realised something - I am unknowingly following the same norm which I have seen in my childhood days at home. I have seen my Mom, my Grandmom using separate dishes and glasses for the maids. For the guests of the house, seperate kind of crockery set was used but the difference between the dishes for maid and for the guests was the quality of the plates. The guests were given higher quality material plates, the family would use the basic material plates (steel at that time) and the maids would get aluminium or old steel plates. I immediately stopped searching for m...

 Life is in general very boring till you have something to look forward to. I remember in my childhood days, I would wait for the clock to strike 4PM as it was my time to go outside my house and play, after few years as I entered high school, I would look forward for the 5:30PM time as it was my cartoon watching time. Few years later, when I was in class 10, I would look forward for the 12noon Sundays as it was the only time of the entire week when I would watch TV, it was my time to watch Shaktimaan and eat my Sunday lunch - chicken curry & rice.  Those were the days when I would look forward, would really want the time to move forward fast so that I could do the things which I want to do. Over the years this list of "looking forward to things" have changed. But the only constant thing is - I still want the time to move forward. Being a child I mostly wanted to grow up so that nobody could tell me to study for the upcoming exams. I wanted to grow up to buy packets of Lay...

 MAA word ta banglatei jokon lekhatao banglatei hok! Golpo holeo sottyi - 1 Dining table bose khachhe sobai. Piu: Ma, ajk tumi ranya korecho? Ma: Ki kore bujli? Piu: Chicken tae doi die tumie banao tai..ki darun hoece! Kichukkn pore... Ma: Amr pet ta kmn byatha korce, gas hoece mone hoe. Ei chicken ta tui kheye ne plz purota. Ami r parchina. Baba: Seki, tumi to sudu dal diei vat kele, chicken ta to ektuo kelena! Ma: Ektu niramise khai, aj gas ta hoece mone hochhe. Piu: Amake puro ta die nije na khabar ovyas ta kobe je jabe tomar?! Ma: Sotyie gas hoece amr re! Baba: Ghorei daktar ekn, kichhu hobena khaoto! Piu: Ha, keye nao, ami osud die debo. Ma: Na re khabona jor korisna. Piu: Achha besh khachhi ami purota. Ma arale muchki hasi hese Piu er muker hangla vora hasita deke mone mone bollo - " Eibar amr chicken khaoa holo!" Golpo holeo sottyi - 2 Ting tong! Kokn thke bell bajachhi kulchona kno, saradin ki je koro barite sudu to bosei thako, ektu dorja kulte gie eto late kno je ko...

Dear Working Mothers & Wives, How many times have you faced the dilemma of completing an urgent report on time vs feeding your child till her tummy is full? What to choose - a quality time with my child vs office parties? Now, my question is why cannot we have everything? Why can't I have it all? As a person I want to excel in my career, maintain good rapport with my work colleagues at the same time I want to witness and be there at every growing stage of my child. Why is the situation either or and not and? Again, another question that pops up is why don't the fathers face this dilemma? The answer is simple- they have already chosen their 100% dedication towards their work life as they feel by default it is the mother who would be the primary caregiver for the child who has been created by both. And, fathers are not to be blamed. You know why? Because just like our society has labelled mothers to be the primary caregiver for the child, it has also labelled fathers as the m...

Dear Readers, Did the title shock you? Isnt it the most common word that you get to hear if you are living in West Bengal? Good bad or ugly, in happiness or out of frustration you will hear - "Pagol naki?!"(Which means - Are you mad?) While they might not be asking about your mental health literally but yes they would suspect somthing is not working properly in your brain. Bengalis have always been focussed on gaining intelligence and not wealth. No wonder why we have produced so many scientists, literary veterans and not so many businessmen! Anyways, coming back to the topic of mental health we see so many cases of frustrations, anger, depression ( several kinds of depression including post partum depression). The starting point of these cases would be lack of clear goal in life and the ending point would be feeling bad about the kind of behaviour that you get from others. I will state few examples for better clarity. Example 1: I dont know how to use my free time as I think...

  Dear Readers, It's been long time. I couldnt write blog as I was shifting from Mumbai. And, yes I am back to Kolkata after 5 long years! Initially, I was apprehensive about the shift because of many reasons. I was not sure if we would be getting the same facilities like those in Mumbai. Not only lifestyle and availability of things, several things are different here - medical facilities, education system, people & their thought process. But today when I see my daughter is playing happily with my parents who have so many grey hairs, wrinkled skin - I feel this shift was the need of the hour. After returning back I suddenly felt how much old my parents have grown and how much sense of security or strength they get after seeing me living close by in the same city. I never understood their thought process till I became a parent myself. When I think about my future now I foresee doing things together with my daughter, I want to live close to her not because I want to control he...