Be proud .. You are a “Home-Maker”

This article isn’t coming from me because I am a Home-Maker now. It is because I have heard enough contempt for home-makers!

I am a home-maker, doing everything that is needed to meet everyone’s needs. I know I am doing it really well, getting maximum satisfaction amidst occasional appreciation. I have less to regret and a lot of experience to handle some things that I never thought I could, all by myself! But often, I encounter people whose facial colour just fades once they hear I am a homemaker! Why? Is it a taboo or is it illegal or do you think it is a shameful state to be in?

As recently as today noon, a dear one mocked at me for being home maker. I usually don’t take sh** coming my way. But today I had to be patient and not give back because he was an elderly man from a close circle. A man who has always been spending his life in the urge to make money and meet targets of prosperity and never thought of being there for the dear ones at times of need takes enough time to comment on me who has been sweating out to do everything that take to keep the family running smoothly! Hell..

I have studied in one of the best universities, have had an excellent IT career, did well there, gathered enough feathers to decorate my plume and took an essential break when the family needed me. I am just a decision away from getting back to a full-time IT job if you, Mr.Money-maker, think is life’s meaning. But, I will push that thought into future and take a call wisely when I am sure that things are all in place and when it is the right time to get back to a demanding job!

I have all it takes to go back to IT – enough skills, amazing attitude, self-confidence and the ability to decide what is the best thing for me and my loved ones. But you and I clearly know how well you are equipped to handle a family that needs you ! All you can do is throw some money at a nanny to take care of your kids or at a carer who can watch your dear ones in pain. 

Sc**w you and those obnoxious people who think having big bucks in their account is success. I am successful, so are all women who are making a “home” rather than outsourcing that to some others who mean nothing in the concept of “home”.

And when I get back to work, I clearly know how well I can shine there because I would have successfully delivered the project of happiness, contentment and satisfaction at times of need. This is a big value add on my resume. I have no doubt about it whatsoever!!
This is my dedication to all those people who bend their heads for being home-makers. Stand up and straight.. there is no shame if you are a homemaker.. and to all those Money-minting-machines who just know that much and nothing beyond it!

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I realised.. it wasn’t my type and walked away

Recent incidents in life had made Sarah a bit timid and she had begun to keep herself very busy always only to avoid all the nostalgia of the bitter past.

Like everyone, she had dreamt of a life with nothing else but perfection, love and affection. All aspects of her life were nearly perfect, except her marriage. Her marriage with Ron had recently ended rather disgracefully.

Ron was a rich man, ambitious about his career , fairly good looking but a very morose guy. He seemed uninterested in anything around him. And that troubled their marriage.

Sarah and Ron lived together, period. There was no communication like normal couples and there seemed no connect between them.But to everyone around them, they seemed like the perfect couple with the best traits – decent looks, great career and good status because they often put up a happy face to the world. Probably the only pleasant thing in their life was that they were circled by a good bunch of friends who often invited them over to parties or events.

You are actually not alone if…

Are you often thinking you are alone and have no one to listen to you or to give you company? Well, you perhaps are not!

Everyone at some point in their life would have felt so. But more often than not, they are not alone and find solace when they realise so. See, just as you read this, you realised you aren’t the only one who felt lonely all this while. Isn’t it? Well, that’s the fun part of it.

And then, He came…

It was 7 o’clock in the morning but Jenny continued to lay still, on her rocking chair , gazing out of the window. The cool morning breeze could only sweep off the untied hair off her face, but not the thoughts that filled her mind.

The previous night was rather a disturbing one for her because she was intrigued by a chain of dreams, dreams that casted each of her ex-men in the lead role! When the dreams became rather too realistic, she couldn’t help but wake up at once to the reality, only to realise she was now , thankfully, still single!

Be one with your toddler

It has been an awesome journey parenting my little one all these days. Since her birth until now, I have seen her blossom into a new flower at every stage.. while in her newbie stage she was a sweet jasmine, she soon became a rose, with of course a pricky stem! She is in her troublesome twos and keeping me on my toes these days!

At every stage of motherhood, I have had one thing done all the time in my free time.. Seek advice from my best buddy – Mr. Google. Starting from “how to tie a nappy like a pro” kind of searches till “how to handle the toddler tantrums“,that was my recent search! It is a quintessential thing to do at times when you know, yet ,you feel you don’t know!

I always remember a dear friend of mine when I talk about toddlers. He used to say, ” I love kids.. only those under 3.. after that they are angelic monsters.. phew!!” So true, isn’t it? Well, thats all true when you aren’t the parent.. but when you are, you really have to go through all the ups and downs, and especially for the mom, it’s a solo journey..

Emotions revealed

All living being express their emotions in their own unique way. Careful observation of the species and in-depth understanding of their behavioral patterns give you a clear idea of what their gestures mean.

Of all the species known, most expressive are the humans. We are gifted with speech to make our emotions lucid. Also, with the development of technology and well defined web etiquette, our expression of emotions has no bounds! Let me come to the topic now. Emoticons 🙂 well, there I go !

People today use the various social networking means and stay connected with the people who mean to them. While traditionally this particular expression of “you mean so much to me” was expressed via letters and phone calls, in today’s fast-paced , abbreviated world, it can be easily expressed through these emoticons.

Emoticons – Emotional Icons are the character representation of the graphical smileys. And what do they mean? They mean a lot, to many! Its usage almost becomes indispensable during internet chatting with friends. Sometimes just these are sufficient to highlight our mood and our intention of a particular statement. Sometimes they come as savior when your words cant completely convey what you mean. They mean little more than words you know!

With the use of smileys or emoticons, the effect of a conversation becomes surreal. These emoticons replace human facial expressions on the virtual world. I for one, have gotten so addicted to the usage of emoticons that my statements surely end with an emoticon 🙂 Like that!!

The trend of using the emoticons has made messenger software to invariably bind smileys into their software. I see no such messenger without its unique smiley set! In fact, it is a selling factor for some of the messenger software – the more human-like the smileys are, the better is the user-acceptance and the better it sells among people! It drives business!

I particularly like Microsoft’s Office Communicator with its damn cute smiley set. You should try the favourite ” 😛 ” emoticon on it. It becomes a cute face with a cuter tongue out! Ahh I love it!! And the anger smiley. It does make the face red and perfectly depicts the extent of anger. Some other ones I like are the Devil and the hugs & kisses.

After all this is said and done, why is even a sad faced or an angry emoticon still called a smiley?? Is it because it gets it name from the ancestral and famous ” 🙂 ” which was perhaps the only popularly used emoticon of the earlier times? Something I always wonder!

Well, so much about these emoticons only because they have become integral part of our daily conversations – be it with friends, family or collegues! They are here to stay, getting better and more human-like with time.

A new gen version of the emoticons/smileys is probably the zoozoos. These were strategically planned for the cricket match commercial breaks by Vodafone in India. Across the globe too, it DID grab everybody’s attention and made them popular among the young and the old. To an extent that zoozoos started spreading through emails, and also came on t-shirts! I too went around looking for Zoozoo t-shirts in several stores! In my opinion, it is the next version of the legendary smileys.

So what next? We probably have to be too creative to get our own versions of Smileys out , or add to the already sumptuous set of smileys or simply wait and watch 🙂

As a leaving note, for all my curious readers who want to check their proficiency w.r.t emoticons, here is a quick link to the most common and widely used ones!
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons )

Home maker projects

The word “project” isn’t something that we are not familiar with. From a tiny toddler in school to an Industry Leader, everyone uses this word in their own profession. Now, I am talking about the projects for a home maker!
I have been in the IT industry working under pressure, under strict deadlines, and getting several projects to closure. While serving this role of a developer, project to me meant an office project. Such project usually has several people playing their roles: few developers, a lead, a manager, a senior manager so on n so forth. A home maker too isn’t spared from all of these responsibilities! Let me show you how.
A home maker aka house wife too has different responsibilities: cooking, housekeeping, grocery procurement & management, managing her finances etc. Aren’t these roles synonymous to the roles in the IT project? They are!! So, an efficient home maker is synonymous to a key performer in the IT industry.
For her, every morning starts similar to that of any developer: here, she needs to develop an idea for the day’s menu! She needs to “plan” the breakfast, and “execute” it within a particular “deadline” otherwise, her breakfast will become lunch 🙂 and her husband will go mad at her – for “slipping the deadline”. For any engineer in the industry who is reading this article, these words in quotes are more familiar.. However, I am only stating the similarity in the roles of a home maker and an IT engineer.
The home maker projects do have reviews – the feedback that her folks give about how tasty her preparation was, about how meticulous she is in housekeeping, about how creative she is in cooking, and about how proactive she is in deciding the menus herself and implementing it well!
Oh my god! There are so many similarities to state! However, she doesn’t get hikes and bonuses, and there is no appraisal cycle for her. What she would love as a trade-off is a pleasant acknowledgement of her good work at home, and lots of love and support from her folks in making the house, a HOME 🙂

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career. ”
— C.S. Lewis