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Relationships
It is often believed that in a relationship if both parties are busy, it can lead to the relationship not getting enough time to sustain and grow. People often recommend that at least one party should take the back seat, take things slow and be available for nurturing the relationship. I disagree. In my experience with my immediate relationships, not only spouse but others as well, it is very important that both sides of the relationship are equally positively occupied. “Positively Occupied” does not necessarily mean having a full time professional career. It just means that the individual has enough in their own life for personal nourishment, and not completely…
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Project Manager Mother
Being a project manager is very similar to being a mother. When your child commits a mistakes, gets a bad grade, throws a tantrum in public, you just have to accept it in the face of the public. There is no point in trying to justify to the teacher, or the society on why he/she committed that mistake. Mistake happened, end of story. How you handle your child, behind the scenes, is up to your style of parenting. The world doesn’t need to know how you do it. Similarly, as the project manager, you just have to own up the mistakes committed by your team. No client or program manager…
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Shit in Life
Some days, life throws shit at us and we let that shit stink our clothes, our body and our souls. And then there are days when life throws shit at us, we neatly catch the shit, make organic dung cakes, package them and sell them at 100% profitability to those whom life has not gifted as much shit. Given these two scenarios, can we blame life in any way?
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THE PERFECT PARENT
Most first time parents have this fairy tale vision about parenting. They have seen enough spoilt brats in their circle of friends and family to create their own rule book of what not to do with their own children. I, of course, was no different. When I was expecting my first child, I vowed to feed him the healthiest of foods any child had ever eaten. I vowed to have him sleep on his own, through the night. I vowed that my child would never throw a tantrum in public. I was dead sure I would be the perfect parent and my child would be THE PERFECT child. I started…
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A Letter to Toyna
Dear Toyna, I write this letter to you today, as a reminder to you (and to all those who might ever stand in your path) of the extraordinary courage and will power you possess. I don’t say this because you are my daughter and I am blinded by my love for you. I say this because I have witnessed it first hand when you were just 9 years old. I know you would have already forgotten about that day. I also know that going ahead, life will seem extremely difficult at times. And lastly, I also know that there will be multiple times when everyone around you will believe that…
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The Mystery of the Dysfunctional Machines
Since the last few days, I have been struggling to uncover the mystery behind the strange behavior of electronic machines in our house. Some examples here to show how frustrating life is: I switch on the washing machine when I leave home, expecting it to be done by the time I am back for lunch. At lunch time, 4 hours later, I am surprised to see it stuck mid way. The inverter always refuses to switch on automatically when the electricity goes. The grinder automatically starts on when we switch on the plug, many a times leading to a huge spill. The lights, I keep on at night, mysteriously switch off on their own,…
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What’s in a name anyway!
Whenever I meet a stranger, I usually introduce myself with my name , “Hi, I am Shilpa. Nice to meet you here…… “ On the contrary, I am always pleasantly surprised at how Toyna meets strangers her age. She never starts the conversation with telling her name or asking their name. The conversation is always straight to the point, “Do you want to play with me? I like to play badminton. Do you?……” Many a times, she comes back to me after spending significant time playing with a friend, not even knowing his/her name. This is how conversation goes thereafter: Me: Who is she? Toyna: A friend Me: But what’s…