http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column70.htm
I have never understood the word housewife. What it means and how it applies to people. Of the numerous people you meet and you are asked - so, what do you do and the prompt answer should be about what you do and not being housewife. To quote from the dictionary, housewife essentially means that it is applies to people who are wives and stay at home. So, it still does not actually qualify to be answer to what one does. The present day counterpart to this term is home maker. It perhaps means a person who can make a house a home meaning keeping the home warm and cozy with lots of love. So, does this word qualify as the answer? Perhaps not because it is not what you do, it is also what you do. So, what exactly should be answered to what you do?It is funny that in this world why anybody would care about what you do. Having said that, it is still relevant a question because the answer to it can hold the key to the continuance of conversation and yes, it is important to do something. But the answer to that if is housewife or home maker, then, it is technically wrong. But, for many years now, the answer has come to acceptance and many people use it. The life that one has to lead where days go by from one meal to another and one mop to another mop is not so glamorous. It neither pays nor has any coffee table discussions worth. It is however physically exhausting and monotonous. Of course you can get creative is a pat in the back which translates to carry on the boring work. However there is solace or a wow moment when someone in a group says it is better to go for work in an office than do such a difficult task at home. Yet, the title is not good enough to sit back with.The other problem that you encounter is when you have to state your profession in any given application form. People just get curious - dont they? The best suggestion is to leave it blank if you dont have one. Sometimes, it is frustrating to see - housewife/home maker written in this column. Surely, you didnt go to a college and learn to be a house wife. It is not something you practice. It is something you are. It is like writing - father/mother in the column. If eyebrows are raised for this then, surely enough homemaker is equally wrong. The most annoying thing would be fill out an application form for a health club where you are asked your profession and someone suggests - well, you dont work then, write house wife. Well, what it actually means is yes, you dont work and get paid but you slog it out at home!!Yes, you get a lot of things going. You cook and clean, get the clothes done, know your neighbours (even the good ones from the bad ones), know how to get the drain pipe fixed in the bath from the building maintenance, know which grocery has the greener and fresher veggies, know all the likes and dislikes of parents and parents in law, remember all the bdays, anniversaries of not just yours but the entire familys, call all the people in the family on and off and maintain good relationships. When there are guests and they also stay long, you take good care of them by cooking, cleaning and taking them out because your partner (poor thing has to go to office and has no time), and if you happen to be a parent then, you also manage your kid by putting up with his/her tantrum and also getting the home work done. And, if all this is not enough of course, you have to wait for the spouse to return home before you can have your dinner. This perhaps is the job profile for any decent house wife to abide by. The word house wife does not actually deliver the enormity of responsibility you shoulder. This profile you take charge from the day one and you are also expected to excel though you have had no prior experience nor any educational qualification to support it. In a business set up, periodic management meetings, discussions, and training take place for effective performance. Of course, such a luxury is unheard of to a housewife and yes, and such thoughts are always attracting laughter. But, on a serious thought, when such an onus is rendered on shoulders, would some basic training not be a pre requisite. Perhaps these are some of the natural things that people do and are maybe in born. But, if people management training is rendered in offices then, is people management not done at home. Is keeping the members of the family in good spirit, and all the relationships going not people management/relationship management . The answer lies in the fact that importance is never ever given to the one who gets the things going at home. There is a lot in askance for investment which is perhaps for many is unaffordable. We are talking about time, emotion, love, patience, and again time. The need of the hour is to coin a better glamorous title.One over heard answer for the question what you do is - I do a lot of things ya. It is just that I do it at home. It is one of the most thankless jobs. But yes, I still have to do it. I never get paid, I dont get the Sundays off, I dont get a bonus based on my performance, My appraisal is done by almost everyone and I never top. Yes, the one thing I do feel happy about this job is when my son hugs me and kisses me with all his love, it just makes all the work worth it. As an after thought why dont we all come up with this new term - HRO (Home Relationship Officer). It is just that the term officer adds up to a lot of glamour and may be bag a salute from the security every time you enter the building!
A Housewife or A Home Relationship Officer
http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column70.htm
I have never understood the word housewife. What it means and how it applies to people. Of the numerous people you meet and you are asked - so, what do you do and the prompt answer should be about what you do and not being housewife. To quote from the dictionary, housewife essentially means that it is applies to people who are wives and stay at home. So, it still does not actually qualify to be answer to what one does. The present day counterpart to this term is home maker. It perhaps means a person who can make a house a home meaning keeping the home warm and cozy with lots of love. So, does this word qualify as the answer? Perhaps not because it is not what you do, it is also what you do. So, what exactly should be answered to what you do?It is funny that in this world why anybody would care about what you do. Having said that, it is still relevant a question because the answer to it can hold the key to the continuance of conversation and yes, it is important to do something. But the answer to that if is housewife or home maker, then, it is technically wrong. But, for many years now, the answer has come to acceptance and many people use it. The life that one has to lead where days go by from one meal to another and one mop to another mop is not so glamorous. It neither pays nor has any coffee table discussions worth. It is however physically exhausting and monotonous. Of course you can get creative is a pat in the back which translates to carry on the boring work. However there is solace or a wow moment when someone in a group says it is better to go for work in an office than do such a difficult task at home. Yet, the title is not good enough to sit back with.The other problem that you encounter is when you have to state your profession in any given application form. People just get curious - dont they? The best suggestion is to leave it blank if you dont have one. Sometimes, it is frustrating to see - housewife/home maker written in this column. Surely, you didnt go to a college and learn to be a house wife. It is not something you practice. It is something you are. It is like writing - father/mother in the column. If eyebrows are raised for this then, surely enough homemaker is equally wrong. The most annoying thing would be fill out an application form for a health club where you are asked your profession and someone suggests - well, you dont work then, write house wife. Well, what it actually means is yes, you dont work and get paid but you slog it out at home!!Yes, you get a lot of things going. You cook and clean, get the clothes done, know your neighbours (even the good ones from the bad ones), know how to get the drain pipe fixed in the bath from the building maintenance, know which grocery has the greener and fresher veggies, know all the likes and dislikes of parents and parents in law, remember all the bdays, anniversaries of not just yours but the entire familys, call all the people in the family on and off and maintain good relationships. When there are guests and they also stay long, you take good care of them by cooking, cleaning and taking them out because your partner (poor thing has to go to office and has no time), and if you happen to be a parent then, you also manage your kid by putting up with his/her tantrum and also getting the home work done. And, if all this is not enough of course, you have to wait for the spouse to return home before you can have your dinner. This perhaps is the job profile for any decent house wife to abide by. The word house wife does not actually deliver the enormity of responsibility you shoulder. This profile you take charge from the day one and you are also expected to excel though you have had no prior experience nor any educational qualification to support it. In a business set up, periodic management meetings, discussions, and training take place for effective performance. Of course, such a luxury is unheard of to a housewife and yes, and such thoughts are always attracting laughter. But, on a serious thought, when such an onus is rendered on shoulders, would some basic training not be a pre requisite. Perhaps these are some of the natural things that people do and are maybe in born. But, if people management training is rendered in offices then, is people management not done at home. Is keeping the members of the family in good spirit, and all the relationships going not people management/relationship management . The answer lies in the fact that importance is never ever given to the one who gets the things going at home. There is a lot in askance for investment which is perhaps for many is unaffordable. We are talking about time, emotion, love, patience, and again time. The need of the hour is to coin a better glamorous title.One over heard answer for the question what you do is - I do a lot of things ya. It is just that I do it at home. It is one of the most thankless jobs. But yes, I still have to do it. I never get paid, I dont get the Sundays off, I dont get a bonus based on my performance, My appraisal is done by almost everyone and I never top. Yes, the one thing I do feel happy about this job is when my son hugs me and kisses me with all his love, it just makes all the work worth it. As an after thought why dont we all come up with this new term - HRO (Home Relationship Officer). It is just that the term officer adds up to a lot of glamour and may be bag a salute from the security every time you enter the building!
I have never understood the word housewife. What it means and how it applies to people. Of the numerous people you meet and you are asked - so, what do you do and the prompt answer should be about what you do and not being housewife. To quote from the dictionary, housewife essentially means that it is applies to people who are wives and stay at home. So, it still does not actually qualify to be answer to what one does. The present day counterpart to this term is home maker. It perhaps means a person who can make a house a home meaning keeping the home warm and cozy with lots of love. So, does this word qualify as the answer? Perhaps not because it is not what you do, it is also what you do. So, what exactly should be answered to what you do?It is funny that in this world why anybody would care about what you do. Having said that, it is still relevant a question because the answer to it can hold the key to the continuance of conversation and yes, it is important to do something. But the answer to that if is housewife or home maker, then, it is technically wrong. But, for many years now, the answer has come to acceptance and many people use it. The life that one has to lead where days go by from one meal to another and one mop to another mop is not so glamorous. It neither pays nor has any coffee table discussions worth. It is however physically exhausting and monotonous. Of course you can get creative is a pat in the back which translates to carry on the boring work. However there is solace or a wow moment when someone in a group says it is better to go for work in an office than do such a difficult task at home. Yet, the title is not good enough to sit back with.The other problem that you encounter is when you have to state your profession in any given application form. People just get curious - dont they? The best suggestion is to leave it blank if you dont have one. Sometimes, it is frustrating to see - housewife/home maker written in this column. Surely, you didnt go to a college and learn to be a house wife. It is not something you practice. It is something you are. It is like writing - father/mother in the column. If eyebrows are raised for this then, surely enough homemaker is equally wrong. The most annoying thing would be fill out an application form for a health club where you are asked your profession and someone suggests - well, you dont work then, write house wife. Well, what it actually means is yes, you dont work and get paid but you slog it out at home!!Yes, you get a lot of things going. You cook and clean, get the clothes done, know your neighbours (even the good ones from the bad ones), know how to get the drain pipe fixed in the bath from the building maintenance, know which grocery has the greener and fresher veggies, know all the likes and dislikes of parents and parents in law, remember all the bdays, anniversaries of not just yours but the entire familys, call all the people in the family on and off and maintain good relationships. When there are guests and they also stay long, you take good care of them by cooking, cleaning and taking them out because your partner (poor thing has to go to office and has no time), and if you happen to be a parent then, you also manage your kid by putting up with his/her tantrum and also getting the home work done. And, if all this is not enough of course, you have to wait for the spouse to return home before you can have your dinner. This perhaps is the job profile for any decent house wife to abide by. The word house wife does not actually deliver the enormity of responsibility you shoulder. This profile you take charge from the day one and you are also expected to excel though you have had no prior experience nor any educational qualification to support it. In a business set up, periodic management meetings, discussions, and training take place for effective performance. Of course, such a luxury is unheard of to a housewife and yes, and such thoughts are always attracting laughter. But, on a serious thought, when such an onus is rendered on shoulders, would some basic training not be a pre requisite. Perhaps these are some of the natural things that people do and are maybe in born. But, if people management training is rendered in offices then, is people management not done at home. Is keeping the members of the family in good spirit, and all the relationships going not people management/relationship management . The answer lies in the fact that importance is never ever given to the one who gets the things going at home. There is a lot in askance for investment which is perhaps for many is unaffordable. We are talking about time, emotion, love, patience, and again time. The need of the hour is to coin a better glamorous title.One over heard answer for the question what you do is - I do a lot of things ya. It is just that I do it at home. It is one of the most thankless jobs. But yes, I still have to do it. I never get paid, I dont get the Sundays off, I dont get a bonus based on my performance, My appraisal is done by almost everyone and I never top. Yes, the one thing I do feel happy about this job is when my son hugs me and kisses me with all his love, it just makes all the work worth it. As an after thought why dont we all come up with this new term - HRO (Home Relationship Officer). It is just that the term officer adds up to a lot of glamour and may be bag a salute from the security every time you enter the building!
The Plastic Bag Ban ! Even Bangladesh did it
http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column77.htm
A great sense of feeling sinked in when my lil one came back home with a piece of paper which talked about the three Rs - Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. He had understood very little though and the enormity of what he had learnt eluded him. But, my own thoughts wandered because they were still as relevant (and perhaps more relevant) as they were when I had learnt about them when I was little. Nothing much had changed in all the years. I still remember like it was yesterday when I tucked under my moms sari and walked to the Vegetable bazaar with one wired basket and got back home all the goodies. No plastic covers. Then, I remember the time, when I would walk up to the shop and bought something and I could request the man for a plastic cover. Now, when I walk across to the super market, a man helps me pack my shopping and carefully picking out the things - dairy products in one cover, toilet cleaners, shower gels and shampoos all in one cover, vegetables in one cover, frozen food in one cover and I would be walking back home with four or five covers giving me a feeling of having shopped heavily. All said, the use of plastic had just increased many fold but the talk about protecting the environment has remained.In the UAE, there is scant respect for plastic. Everybody uses it and in fact they abuse it. If you happen to go to a shop and ask each item you have bought to be put in a different cover, they would do so and perhaps even give you a cover or two..... It surprises me because, though some of the covers say - please re-use this bag- I wonder how many use it. Of course, many argue, they re-use it - as in use the plastic bag for garbage disposal! How many garbage disposal covers do you need? Is it difficult to carry the same cover to the supermarket next time you shop? One popular supermarket actually sells a bag for a throw away price of 2 dirhams and even gives life long guarantee - meaning to mend the bag even if it tears but nobody wants to pay for the bag of course. What if the supermarkets start to levy a price for the plastic bags - will the use of plastic reduce?In Ireland, the use of plastic bags was reduced by 90% when they started to charge 15 cents per bag in 2002! This was definitely a big move. This trick probably worked because, we as humans do not want to pay for the bag. It is not about the 15 cents but we would like to pay only for the shopping. Today, majority of the people carry their own cloth bags and of course, they have multiple bags - some in the car, some in the house and almost everywhere. They all Re-use!!!!!!The surprising thing is the ban on plastic has worked in the neighbouring Bangladesh! Although they have other reasons for banning - plastic bags clog the gutters leading to floods during the rainy season- and not for actually helping the environment, it seems to have worked. It is now helping the environment immensely. This was as early as 2002 and in 2008 the fast growing nations like India is still thinking about it. Ofcourse, the practicalities are perhaps complicated. I can immediately think of plastic making companies going on a hunger strike and all the politicians losing a lot of money - so who really cares about a little plastic being thrown here and there and the environment being hazardous? It is not going to happen when we are alive and perhaps something may happen sometime when none of us are going to be around. So, it is OK. But some states in India seem to have banned plastic bags made below 25 microns. Yet, the only way perhaps India can ever come around reducing its use is by stamping a tax on the bag and I simply find it so difficult to see it happening. In Switzerland, nobody hands over a plastic bag at the shopping counter. You carry your own bag and buy. They have a proper system of disposing almost everything. There are paper shredding machines in many places, and the most surprising thing is that they levy a charge for garbage disposal too. The bag can be bought from any supermarket and will be charged according to the size of the bag costing about 4 Swiss francs per bag. Household garbage has been increasing every year and disposal of this is even more expensive. By passing on a bit of the massive expense the government incurs, people are thinking twice before throwing something into the bin. The garbage has reduced by 40% since 1992!!! By doing this, people have just become more responsible and the results are visible clearly to any visitor in Swiss. Although you are initially in a state of shock to pay for garbage that you want to dispose, you start to see the reason at the end of the day. People now dont just throw a half full garbage in the bin. They wait for the bin to fill up and then, throw!!! Stamping a price can do wonders!!In Belgium too, Plastic bags are taxed. So, while you are shopping in there, you carry your own bag and of course, you dont care if the shampoo went into the bag along with the milk because, if you do, then, you have to pay for the cover that you want to put the shampoo in. Most people here carry the shopping bag and of course, some of them have even got very trendy. The trend of banning the plastic has started and we all hope that will have a domino effect but perhaps much damage has already been done. What can be done about this?? This is the question that constantly echoes all over. I can see something happening only if there is a conscious effort by every individual. This is an idealistic reasoning but I am an optimist because my little one one day announced after watching animal planet that he would prefer to carry a hand towel in his snack box and not his favourite teddy bear paper napkin because the pandas were not getting enough food. Hope does linger on in all our lives - doesnt it? With 25 hectares of land being deforested every minute, I had lost all hopes of a green environment but when I saw the concern in my lil ones eyes about the pandas, new hopes emerged.Sudha Subramanian
A great sense of feeling sinked in when my lil one came back home with a piece of paper which talked about the three Rs - Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. He had understood very little though and the enormity of what he had learnt eluded him. But, my own thoughts wandered because they were still as relevant (and perhaps more relevant) as they were when I had learnt about them when I was little. Nothing much had changed in all the years. I still remember like it was yesterday when I tucked under my moms sari and walked to the Vegetable bazaar with one wired basket and got back home all the goodies. No plastic covers. Then, I remember the time, when I would walk up to the shop and bought something and I could request the man for a plastic cover. Now, when I walk across to the super market, a man helps me pack my shopping and carefully picking out the things - dairy products in one cover, toilet cleaners, shower gels and shampoos all in one cover, vegetables in one cover, frozen food in one cover and I would be walking back home with four or five covers giving me a feeling of having shopped heavily. All said, the use of plastic had just increased many fold but the talk about protecting the environment has remained.In the UAE, there is scant respect for plastic. Everybody uses it and in fact they abuse it. If you happen to go to a shop and ask each item you have bought to be put in a different cover, they would do so and perhaps even give you a cover or two..... It surprises me because, though some of the covers say - please re-use this bag- I wonder how many use it. Of course, many argue, they re-use it - as in use the plastic bag for garbage disposal! How many garbage disposal covers do you need? Is it difficult to carry the same cover to the supermarket next time you shop? One popular supermarket actually sells a bag for a throw away price of 2 dirhams and even gives life long guarantee - meaning to mend the bag even if it tears but nobody wants to pay for the bag of course. What if the supermarkets start to levy a price for the plastic bags - will the use of plastic reduce?In Ireland, the use of plastic bags was reduced by 90% when they started to charge 15 cents per bag in 2002! This was definitely a big move. This trick probably worked because, we as humans do not want to pay for the bag. It is not about the 15 cents but we would like to pay only for the shopping. Today, majority of the people carry their own cloth bags and of course, they have multiple bags - some in the car, some in the house and almost everywhere. They all Re-use!!!!!!The surprising thing is the ban on plastic has worked in the neighbouring Bangladesh! Although they have other reasons for banning - plastic bags clog the gutters leading to floods during the rainy season- and not for actually helping the environment, it seems to have worked. It is now helping the environment immensely. This was as early as 2002 and in 2008 the fast growing nations like India is still thinking about it. Ofcourse, the practicalities are perhaps complicated. I can immediately think of plastic making companies going on a hunger strike and all the politicians losing a lot of money - so who really cares about a little plastic being thrown here and there and the environment being hazardous? It is not going to happen when we are alive and perhaps something may happen sometime when none of us are going to be around. So, it is OK. But some states in India seem to have banned plastic bags made below 25 microns. Yet, the only way perhaps India can ever come around reducing its use is by stamping a tax on the bag and I simply find it so difficult to see it happening. In Switzerland, nobody hands over a plastic bag at the shopping counter. You carry your own bag and buy. They have a proper system of disposing almost everything. There are paper shredding machines in many places, and the most surprising thing is that they levy a charge for garbage disposal too. The bag can be bought from any supermarket and will be charged according to the size of the bag costing about 4 Swiss francs per bag. Household garbage has been increasing every year and disposal of this is even more expensive. By passing on a bit of the massive expense the government incurs, people are thinking twice before throwing something into the bin. The garbage has reduced by 40% since 1992!!! By doing this, people have just become more responsible and the results are visible clearly to any visitor in Swiss. Although you are initially in a state of shock to pay for garbage that you want to dispose, you start to see the reason at the end of the day. People now dont just throw a half full garbage in the bin. They wait for the bin to fill up and then, throw!!! Stamping a price can do wonders!!In Belgium too, Plastic bags are taxed. So, while you are shopping in there, you carry your own bag and of course, you dont care if the shampoo went into the bag along with the milk because, if you do, then, you have to pay for the cover that you want to put the shampoo in. Most people here carry the shopping bag and of course, some of them have even got very trendy. The trend of banning the plastic has started and we all hope that will have a domino effect but perhaps much damage has already been done. What can be done about this?? This is the question that constantly echoes all over. I can see something happening only if there is a conscious effort by every individual. This is an idealistic reasoning but I am an optimist because my little one one day announced after watching animal planet that he would prefer to carry a hand towel in his snack box and not his favourite teddy bear paper napkin because the pandas were not getting enough food. Hope does linger on in all our lives - doesnt it? With 25 hectares of land being deforested every minute, I had lost all hopes of a green environment but when I saw the concern in my lil ones eyes about the pandas, new hopes emerged.Sudha Subramanian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)