C'est La Vie;That's life

Picasso’s greatest works came early; Cézanne’s came late. Are you one of those classic"slow poke" types that took a really, really long time to grow up? Some one who everyone kind of gave up but made heads turn and people going "gaga" over you later on? Then, this is for you. Feel free to pass on this public service message around. My honest belief is that all children are amazing works-in-progress who are on their way to a beautiful end-products, IF shaped well. And, who's to decide what is the appropriate age that's supposed to happen? I've always taken a strong dislike to those who think they can look at a child, and decide on how they're going to be a failure as an adult. And, what irks me further is how they voice their misguided prophecies to the children themselves, which can manage to destroy whatever self-esteem they have. And, if the above doomsdayers happen to be your neighbor or a pathetic passer-by, you can brush them off and c...

Quite a bunch, aren't we? Not only burdened with the responsibilities of raising new-age kids who are high tech, but come with nope, not even a "Parenting for dummies" manual, managing a challenging and dynamic job-front, dealing with the social aspects of the family like being the perfect daughter, a good sister, the kind neighbor, a caring wife, dutiful daughter-in-law et al. Add the mundane chores of cooking, cleaning, gardening, chauffering to this list and - I know, my head is spinning too. Easy now, let's sit down for a minute. Most of the current gen mothers that I know take their diverse roles to their heart, and try to make the best out of it. It's business as usual for them. No big deal, they would brush off. But, I always wonder if we're all unconsciously trying to be "Supermums", especially the huge task of balancing work and home. We definitely want to be out having a career or a job which is what keeps us sane and yet, no way ...

Before I proceed any further on this kind of dangerous territory and literally asking for trouble, I'd like to proclaim to my immediate and extended family - "Please take all of this with pounds of salt....and, for heaven's sake, it's some X, Y and Z family. Not ours at all. We're the nicest people ever dwelled or going to dwell on Planet Earth." Now, read on. We all talk about getting along with each other, team work, socialization etc and view it as an important element of our everyday life. Right? You take any situation, whether it's workplace, community, school or home as an example, and the most daunting task would be to make a group of people come to terms with each other, cooperate and do something productive. With me so far? So, the rare, "enlightening" thought that struck me today is why is that we're not able to take those exact same lessons  from our own families. Why do we choose to stru...

The lies told by Adolf Hitler to the then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , when the two met just prior to the outbreak of war in September 1938, are famous. Hitler was secretly preparing to invade Czechoslovakia, and was therefore eager to prevent the Czechs from assembling a retaliatory force. The Fuhrer assured Chamberlain that he had absolutely no intention of attacking Czechoslovakia, and the British leader believed him. A few days after their meeting, Chamberlain even wrote to his sister, describing how he believed Hitler to be '....a man who could be relied upon when he had given his word.' Chamberlain was so convinced of Hitler's honesty that he urged the Czechs not to mobilize their troops, fearing such a move might be viewed as an act of aggression by the Germans. The subsequent German attack quickly overwhelmed the ill-prepared Czechoslovakian forces, and led to the start of the Second World War. The world might now be a very different place had C...

A piquant Paris - Really old....around 14th century. But, preserved and refurbished, remodeled to appease a contemporary traveller. This  is the first impression one gets stepping into the city. The serene beauty of the Seine river, the solemn Notre-Dame cathedral, the sprawling, garangatous old Louvre museum which holds most of the Renaissance paintings and sculptures in the world, a more modern Musee d'Orsay which boasts the numerous Impressionists paintings of Monet, Renoir etc, the beautiful Champs d'Elysees ending at the Arc of Triumph, the cute Parisian streets, of course the famous views from the Eiffel Tower - all look like they have been carefully fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. Blue print for how a city architecture ought to be. If you're a Dan Brown fan like me, you can soak it all up - the Pantheon, the androgynous Mona Lisa (or ' La Joconde' as the French call it), and the ugly, but significant Pyramid...

We all have given, received and returned or exchanged gifts throughout our lives. It's one of those inevitable, endless, at times dull social etiquettes that has been going on for many centuries, right? In an idealistic Utopian world, gifts should be given without any 'quid pro quo' or any expectations in return, but in this real, greedy world......who are we kidding? Yeah, yeah, we've all heard the worn-out and cliched, "its the thought that matters" kind of saintly statements, but you better have high monetary standards for your thoughts, folks. Else, be ready to incur the wrath of some very hostile hosts for the rest of your social life. Also, i've a honest confession to make. The people who have mastered this gifting technique have my full-blown, unabashed greenest envy. The way they enter a party or a house with a neatly, glossy-wrapped, present that looks like it's taken them years of thoughtful planning, makes me feel like a Neathandral woma...

In a recent newspaper article, a British anthropologist Robin Dunbar has proposed that there is a theoretical cognitive limit imposed by our brain's neocortex, to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. This is called 'Dunbar number' and approximated closely to 150. Interestingly, the number also includes past colleagues such as high school friends with whom a person would want to reacquaint themselves if they met again. This theory is now being extensively used for research into Internet social networking sites. Makes sense, right? We might be tempted to greedily keep adding those "friend requests" on our social networking sites to long-lost people whom we haven't heard in zillion years and even to passers-by on the road, but please hold back those instincts, curb your enthusiuasm, or put a damp sock in it - at least if the list is getting out of hand. It's time to take a closer look at who's truly a friend or a...