The other day, our house maid had quit  and my wife was looking around for a replacement. With the dearth of blue collared workers, we knew it was going to be a long and hard grind ahead.A two pronged strategy was chalked out as a BCP (Business Continuity Plan). a) Check with the cook if she would double up as a housemaid for the extra wages until a replacement was found b) Everyone chips in with their bit (do their own bed, dishes, rooms and equipment) until the replacement comes in Option a) as expected was shot down by the cook, even before it was explained in full, for the extra wages were unimportant compared to other priorities. Option b) was enforced at home, like an emergency declared across the country. The first day started in right earnest with a whole set of learning from folding the rug to fluffing the pillow. When the coffee mug arrived, the thought of cleaning it actually took the zing out of the drink and my attempts at stowing the mug away after a quick rins...

When I was young, I was always at loggerheads with the thought process and ideologies of my parents. I used to swear, that when I grew up and had a family, I would not do the things they did, like ration out my allowances, take serious offence to my late evening engagements, freak out on any complaints from school / college, deny me the next new motorcycle or simply never ever dole our anything, without a tradeoff or a reciprocal arrangement. I thought they were the most unfair people on earth, linking up my holiday plans to my marks, aligning attendance scores to my new wardrobe, tying up my next new camera to No arrears . . . they seemed outright cruel. Parenting, in my dreams had to be Utopia – at least close to it. Kids need encouragement, care and a perennial supply of money until they find their first job, they need to enjoy their most precious moments of carefree and youthful life, which calls for money, take them on annual overseas trip, load all the designer wear they car...