Sunday, November 9, 2014

Take your pick!!

If you are told that there are only three categories of women:

Slut : One who sleeps with others for the sake of personal gains: monetary or otherwise.
Bitch : One who back stabs and makes relations of convenience. In general rude and most certainly not to be trusted with.
Devi : The ideal one. One who makes sacrifices, is polite, gentle and in general liked and adored.

Which one would you be closest to? 
I believe, we would all rush towards the 'Devi', claiming that though not perfectly there, this is what we are closest to.

In corporate world, these categories exist, only the definitions are a bit different:

Slut : One who is friendly and easy to talk to. Even talks to men who seek help!!! Would not mind sharing jokes or a cup of coffee with male colleagues. Is equally comfortable talking to men and women. If someone tells that he wants to do 'friendship' or 'know more' than she is comfortable, she will politely refuse, not wanting to hurt the feelings, but wanting to make the point clear. 

Bitch: Absolute opposite of slut. Not easy to approach or talk to. Speaks her mind and keeps to herself. Would not go out of the way to accommodate others, would stick to strict rules and guidelines, not wanting to bend them for anyone. May give a cold, stern look if something inappropriate is said or done. Would rebuke if someone wants to cross the boundary she has laid.

Devi: The simple minded, docile one. Polite and gullible. Would not say no to doing others work. Would not be able to fight or resist others even at her own expense. Usually doesn't have high career ambitions, even if she has them, she doesn't know what happened to them down the line. Easy to bully and sweet talk. Loved (used) by all.

Which are you closest too? 
I believe I am usually closer to slut and am a bitch at times.
I believe I am not the Devi or at least I hope I never am. I hope that I always have the guts and intelligence to speak my mind. I hope I am never worried about what others opinion about me is.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

To go or not to go

To go or not to go out of India... most if not all people working in IT Industry ask themselves at least once in their life. Many decide to leave India for work, planning to come back one day.  More than half of my friends are now settled or working outside India. 
Since, both Husband and I earn our bread from this industry, we have been disturbed by the question many a times. 


There are many good reasons to leave India for a while:
1. The money: There is a vast difference between the money you make and thereby save while working outside India than what you will make staying in India. Even if only one partner is working, you still end up saving more money compared to both working in India.
2. The work-life balance: Somehow, in IT Industry, in India, although you claim to be working only 5 days a work, you spend a lot of time working. We think staying back late to finish work or take calls is fine. Making a presentation or supporting clients over weekend is needed. I thought that as you get more experienced, you will stop doing that, but it only gets worse. There are client expectations to be met, calls to be made, budgets to be finalised or just reports to be made. People do not mind calling you after work as there is an important call next day. And we as Indians, do not say no to this. May be  its our insecurity, may be its our good nature.
3. The daily grind: Somehow this one pisses me off more than the above two. The chaos of every day life!! Things do not go as planned, nothing is predictable. What harm would happen if people acted as expected???  We(may be its just me) need so many people to run our daily life: Maids, Press-wala, doodh-waala, newspaper waala, sabzi waala, carpenter, plumber. And the more number of people we need, the more number of people who can set a day off, just by not behaving as expected. From the traffic to the time when you will be back from office, there ain't too many things you can predict. 
4. Quality of life: We live a scared life. We are scared of going out late at night. We are scared of cops as well as thieves. We are scared for the safety of our girls. We have accepted corruption as part of life. There is change undoubtedly, still... its a long way to go. Polluted air, contaminated food, pesticides, no exercise have become a part of our life. Life style diseases have become much more common than before.

....

There would be more reasons which point towards moving out for a while. Husband has been contemplating the option. But, I could reason out (or just put my foot down) blatantly.

The temptation to go for just a couple of years, earn well and come back is just that... a temptation. There is never just enough money. There is always, just a little more that you can make, extending the time you spend abroad. Coming back and settling down to the chaos and discomfort becomes that much more difficult. You become alien and unaccustomed to what was a part of your life for so long.

The only reason which keeps me here is the knowledge that I am close to both my and husband's folks. They can call us at any time. We can visit them as often as we want, even for a weekend and they can do the same. Its not an option that we avail too often. But, still it just keeps me at peace.

I don't know how long my adamant self would be able to stand against the 'logic' of leaving India just for a while... Hope its quite long.