#NaBloPoMo Day 4: What did I want to be when I grow up

Recalling what I thought of my parents' profession as a kid is a hard task! My dad ran his own business and my mom ran the household. Going by what I wanted to be when I grow up, I definitely did not aspire to be either of them. From what I remember, 2 things come to my mind. Like most kids of my generation, I had a strange attraction to becoming a school teacher when I grow up. We all love our teachers as kids. I think us wanting to become teachers is a manifestation of the love and respect we have for them. After a mother, it's the teacher who takes care of us, imparts us values and ensures we are safe outside of home. I had my own set up at home. I would write on the door of the cupboard and hit pillows which were propped as kids. Yes, it sounds so silly and embarrassing now but teaching was serious business to me back then. Actually even now since I am a soft skills trainer and do a pretty similar job.

It was hard not to aspire to be like these immaculate speakers (Photo Credit)

The other thing which I thought I will be when I grow up was a news presenter. I am talking about a time when Doordarshan was the only news channel and we held on to every word of the presenter. We knew each reader by his or her name and they weren't short of national celebrities. They looked stern and business-like like our teachers, with impeccable diction, flawless fluency (I did not know about a teleprompter then) and absolutely professional  presence. As a kid, I think it was hard not to aspire to be like them. I'd memorise lines from the newspaper and try to present like them to my family. I did not understand a word of the front page English but it was fun to emulate them.

Thank you #NaBloPoMo for this trip down the memory lane! 

Should women really have it all?

Oh boy! Indra Nooyi kicked off quite a debate that almost refuses to die. She was genuinely speaking from her heart and experience! The people, with all the time under the sun, have deconstructed all that she said and reconstructed their reinterpreted versions of it. There are supporting and dissenting voices all over the internet and everywhere else. Both, from men and women. You can watch the video and decide for yourselves. 

It’s strange that we are proud to declare the same woman a paragon of success when we talk about the most successful women in the world. And yet, when she shares her heart felt feelings about how challenging it has been for her to achieve what she has, we pounce on her as if she was guilty of murder or something. All of us, who probably haven’t been even half way through as much as she has. 

It goes without saying that anything related to the male-female divide is rife with unresolved controversy. Should a woman feel guilty? Should she have a career at the expense of her family? Or should she put family first? Should the man also sacrifice as much? Why expect the woman to put her career at stake while the man enjoys full professional privileges? Care to answer, anyone? 

No, i am not here to defend her and uphold her views as correct. i am not going to launch an attack on the people who disagree and prove them wrong. i am not going to talk about how a woman is the ultimate specimen of self-effacement while she fulfills all her duties. In fact, i am going to do exactly the opposite. 

There are no right answers. But I have questions - why should a woman want to have everything? What was wrong with the ancient system where the women took care of the house and men went out to hunt? Isn’t Nature throwing a broad hint about a woman’s role by giving her, not the man, the ability to bear children? And making man, and not the woman, physically strong enough to face the rigours of bread winning? So, wasn’t she originally meant to be the partner handling the home while he went out to handle affairs outdoors? Why did women think they had to go out into the man’s world and prove themselves? Did men ever want to stir curry with a spatula to validate themselves in women’s world? Isn’t running a household the equal half of being a bread winner? Why is going out and working equated with success and being home in blissful domesticity considered inferior? Who set this as the benchmark of success? Haven’t we, as women, accepted and declared that stepping out of the threshold is a sign of masculinity and staying home and running affairs isn’t? Why did we think we weren’t equals in our domestic roles and attributed superiority to what men did? Are we not cribbing about not getting something we weren’t supposed to achieve anyways? Aren’t we carrying the double cross of producing children and yet trying to prove ourselves successful in male dominions? Have we not forced guilt upon ourselves for not being there for our children in the quest for something that wasn't meant for us in the first place? 

Answers….anyone?