Can I have 36 hours in a day please?

As boring as it may sound, here's my itinerary of an average day

6:00am : Wake up - with great difficulty and sheer willpower of course!

6:20am to 7:30am : Daily activities, Make coffee, Read Newspaper, Get ready, Do Pooja, Leave to office (The initial 20 mins is for actually getting up ;-))

8:45am : Reach office, have breakfast at the desk itself and get to work...

12:00pm to 1:00pm : Lunch

1:00pm to 1:30pm : Time pass, like blogging or checking forwards etc...

1:30pm to 5:15pm : Work again in full swing, with an in between coffee at the desk. Leave for home

6:45pm to 7:30pm : Reach home, have coffee, freshen up and relax for sometime.

7:30pm to 8:30pm : Study time. I have some certifications/entrance exams lined up :(

8:30pm to 9:30pm : Prepare (basically heat sambar;already prepared by my mil, and make chapathis) and have dinner

9:30pm to 10:30pm : Serial time :) and some chit chats with in-laws during breaks ;-)

10:30pm to 11:00pm : Prepare for the next day (wash my tiffin, iron clothes etc)

11:00pm to 12:30pm : Study some more... the last 20 minutes is just falling asleep, but trying to be awake and read something else will feel guilty the next day.

Now that you have seen the schedule, I still have LOT many things which I would want to do, but just don't have the time for it. Some of them being,

• Social Work (Involve myself in the activities of an orphanage or an old age home)
• Practice music/ play veena (I feel ashamed sometimes that I have almost lost my touch!)
• Go to dance (Bharathanatyam) class
• Do some painting (I was very interested in this in my school days.. but after that have hardly had time for it)
• Call up old friends (Except for very few with whom I interact regularly, I hardly keep in touch with old friends...che..che..)
• Visit my cousins (Some of them are very young, and I would love to spend some time with them.. but where, pray tell me where is the time?)
• Go for some concerts (Ah! It's almost ages since I drowned myself in some good carnatic music concert)
• Read some good books, religious and philosophical (Somehow I do read novels during my bus journey to office :).. long live traffic jams!)
• Experiment some good recipes (ya.. I am very fond of cooking... as long as there are people to eat them ;-))
• Play some games (me and my sis used to play badminton/Chess/Carom etc in the good old days.. now?)

*sigh* I know! I know! you will tell me.. what are weekends for?... Here's what it is for

• Shopping - The necessities like groceries and other house hold articles... and sometimes if there is a necessity to shop for personal stuff like dress or shoes... some function on the way. Gone are the days when I used to shop just for fun... ah! the bliss of bachelor life :)
• Cleaning the house - This takes away most of the time! But I love it :)
• Urgent or mandatory visits - Have to give something to somebody, someday had a baby, somebody is ill, some function, kind of visits.
• Studying and oil bath activities :)

So there you go.. weekends go faster than the weekdays, even before you realise it's over :(

In the midst of all this, questions have subtly started coming in about my plans of starting a family... hello! *knock* *knock* Where is the time? "IF" I can feed my children "while" I am studying, if I can play with them while I am cooking, If I can make them to do homework while I am cleaning and closing the kitchen for the day, if I can help them with their school project work while I am in office... they can come and be a part of my life anytime ;-) But, till I get this great multitasking ability... kids.. you have to wait...

As much as I LOVE kids... I also want to give 100% of myself to them... so till I can do that, they can't make an entry.

OR oh ya.. if I can have 36 hours in a day....

P.S: If only some of my relatives could read this blog ;-)

Exam results are here… Suicides are here too…!!!!

Come April-May, most of the boards declare the results of the exams conducted for the year. The newspapers are filled with photos of toppers, best performing schools, inspiring stories etc. BUT you cannot miss other news items also along with these, especially those of suicide reports. Last one week I have seen on an average 2 suicide incidents reported every day! I wonder how many more happened un-noticed.

Some common reasons for these cases:

• Extreme Case: He/She failed the board exam. (So what! I know it’s not a fantastic news but there is always a next time. It’s not the end of the road anyway.)
• Sad Case: He/She didn’t score “as expected”, meaning got less marks. (Now, pray tell me what in life happens as we expect? We expect lots of things, but things don’t always happen our way... learn to face defeats my dear boys and girls…)
• Sadder Case: He/She didn’t meet the expectations of “others”. (This is the real killer. Why can’t all these “others” just shut up and mind their own business instead of comparing one child’s results with all his/her elder cousins/nephews/neighbors whatnots!)
• Surprising Case: He did well. Secured 91%… in fact is the school topper but still committed suicide! (Surprised? Read this).
  

What do we make out from this? Whatever the reasons might be, but a common underlining factor is insecurity. These children need help. Who else but from their own kith and kin!

This is an appeal to all the parents out there who have their children writing board exams in the near future. Please, please and pretty please give strength to your children. I agree it is required to make them study and work hard and all that.. but set your own and their expectations low. Make them realize that exam is not the end of the world. If not this, then something else… You can either make them or break them. Choose what you want finally, your son/daughter or a fantastic score card?

May the souls of all these children rest in peace!

Footnote: I am simply bowled over by the %ages achieved by the students who have fared well…. 99% aggregate in a board exam? Simply beyond my imagination! One of my cousins got 88% and had to run from pillar to post to get a seat in some good PUC college L Is 88% a bad percentage..? I thought it was distinction…. It seems the cut off in these colleges are 94%... can you believe that?