Parenting

Parenting - a topic I choose to write over the years of watching many parents (mine included) in my inner circle bring their kids up. I ain't a parent. Then how can I write a blog on something in which I have zero experience? Well, sometimes you learn and inculcate the do's and dont's just by watching and you don't really have to have a first hand experience. Do you?

To all those who are about to step-in to the world of parenthood this might just be the right time to have some "advice" so to say to help you out through the staggering challenge you are about to experience. For those who call themselves "the proud parents", maybe its about time to retrospect and make changes if any.

No offense meant here, but most of the parents even fail to reach "good enough" benchmark for their kids to trust them. As a result, kids grow-up lacking the ability to trust their own decisions. A few trends I found which I would like to highlight.

Walk-in-front parents: These parents usually love to the lead way for their kids. Although, this is good in the initial stages, but over the years this doesn't go down well as kids begin to grow up. This guarded way of bring-up the kids fail to build the ability to make the right judgments in them. The parents feel they maybe leading, but one day comes a shocker when they realize that the kids din't follow them!

Respect your children:  As much as you feel the need to be respected, so does your child. To demand respect as a parent from your kid by instilling fear is not the right approach.  Build self-respect in your children by letting them make their decisions even if they are wrong. That would help them gain experiences in life and take on the challenges early on. This is the most important aspect if you genuinely wish to transition to a positive parent.

Accept anger in children: Just as you seem to be angry and feel its normal, so is the anger in your child. Don't shun the angry child away saying "they don't have the right to be angry when they are young because they don't have responsibilities". As much as you feel you have a huge load of responsibility as a parent that you are shouldering, so does your child. Only difference being the gravity of responsibilities differ as different levels. Don't dismiss the feelings of your child as unimportant and send them of to their rooms. This will only make them feel unworthy as they grow up to be adults.

Be considerate and open to changes: This is another aspect which I have observed in parents who don't embrace a change a child wants to bring in. Parent's are so rigid about their wants and needs because a neighbor's daughter or son achieves, they try and impose the same on their kids. Be a little considerate and stop comparing your kids with others. Well, if you can't, then be prepared to be compared with the same neighbor's parents or a far off relatives parents by your kids!

Respect their friends: If you want your child to behave as a well mannered kid and greet your friends and colleagues, then its fair and square for your child to expect the same from you for their friends. Teach them to befriend everyone, irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion and shower the same adulation on their friends. This will help you as well as your child be aware of the ground reality and hold humanity in high regards than anything else.

Set an example: How you behave and treat others impacts your child and speaks volumes about you to them. If you're a hypocrite and practice double-standards, not only will your child not respect you but they will also get confused about the real you and their innate sense of trust begins to suffer. Don't loose the privilege as a parent that you have. Resist the urge to punish your child when he/she points out your mistake about your preaching and your actions. Instead, take a step back and analysis and talk it out. Open conversation with your children goes a long way.

Of course, as a parent you have the power to decide for the betterment of your child, but what is also important is to empower your child to live the life they always want to, as they grow up. Give your child the opportunity to work through the feeling. It's okay to take advice from your kids, sometimes they show you the perspective that as an adult you wouldn't have thought through.

Comic Con Bangalore

It was the first time for me to visit Comic Con India, Bangalore that was held across three days. Yes it was one of the treats you could get on the Easter weekend in Bangalore.

It would be unfair if I dint thank my friend here.

Comic Con celebrates the spirit of creativity across all age groups. The hot sunny day did not deter the people of Bangalore to showcase their love for comics, pop-culture, gaming, movies and more. The venue, White Orchid Hall, Manyata Embassy Business Park, Bangalore was filled with vibrant colors, humor and energy. As I entered, the whole system was organized with sign boards where people could buy tickets at the venue, register themselves and were greeted by young comic con organizers with a high-five. It felt like the entire India comic industry had come together under one roof.

Bangalore Comic Con or the BCC, as it is called witnessed some high profile guests from the very famous and much awaited TV series, Game of Thrones. The show stealer was definitely the once in a lifetime opportunity to sit on the coveted throne from the Game of Thrones and get snapped. There was huge line up for the Throne.

 One of the stalls I stopped by was at the very famous Sirji Comic which was put up by a bunch of engineering students who claimed, Sirji was a visionary in himself.

 The Curiosity Kills the Cat stall had some cool paintings put up. I managed to take a click with all time favorite Chota Bheem.

There was something for every age group. The stalls and booths were packed with T-shirts, 3D-printers, bags, party gear. The stall Pavitra Paapi had some cool phrases from the very own Bollywood tweaked with sleazy humor and it definitely was a hit.

I also managed to spot Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow from the pirates of the Caribbean, Characters from the ElsWorld.

How can I miss, the live Skype chat with one of the NASA astronaut who shared her experience about the trips she made to Mars.

Although the 4-wheeler parking was much ahead from the main event venue, there were buses arranged to pick and drop from the parking to the main gate. Kudos to Bangalore traffic police who managed the traffic effortlessly.

I loved my first ever Comic Con experience. Did you?

Bhavani - To The Rescue

It’s been over 2 years since the gruesome Nirbhaya’s gang rape case is seeking justice at the Indian Court of law. While the family and the whole nation awaits for the verdict, amidst all this, technology gives birth to Bhavani – a portable self-defense device for women. Bhavani is an end result of the collaboration of best engineering minds from India, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom joining hands with the leadership of Indian Martial Arts experts and sports medicine doctors.

Dr-Pavan Kohli, an orthopaedic doctor from Pune is the brain behind Bhavani. He proudly describes this as a “first fully-legal and complete self-defense device for women.” He refrains from using the word weapon as he feels that it defeats the purpose of why the device came into existence and that people don’t like to be associated as someone carrying a weapon in their bag.

The device which looks like a baton, weighs about 1.5kilograms and in its full range is two feet three inches long. The device when contracted, measures nine inches in length and can be easily slipped in a handbag.

The device boasts of combining five engineering technologies – electrical, electronics, chemical, telecommunications and mechanical. In layman terms, the design of Bhavani in its full length resembles a Samurai sword with a stun gun, pepper spray, panic button, pen knife and a sewing kit and mirror. The inbuilt GPS helps in tracing the exact location of the victim and sends five SMS to 5 pre-fed members/numbers. The stun gun sends a high-intensity non-lethal electric shock to the attacker, just enough to throw the attacker one-two feet away. The panic button when pressed sends out a loud buzzer to call for help from passer-by. The baton also has pepper spray to throw the miscreant about 5-6 feet away. The Samurai baton and the pen knife come in handy in protecting the women during physical assault.

Bhavani was unveiled on 9th of March by Nirbhaya’s parents. That being the biggest irony!

The device will be available with all government and private agencies in the next 30days and can be picked for an amount of Rs5000. I urge all the women to invest in the device to be self-protected. To all the men, I would say, this is the best gift of safety to the woman you love in your life.

I hope that justice to the case is giving as swiftly as Bhavani promises to rescue the women in India and worldwide.

Go Girl Go

It's the International Women's Day today. I love everything about this day. Special discounts, lots of wishes from friend's and family. This really makes me feel special. I am sure many echo on these aspects with me.

There's always this pressure on a woman to be able to manage work and life flawlessly. To be able to multitask. But this women's day let's take a moment and ask the men we know, how they would balance work and family? How often they give the woman of the house the most needed break?

To see a woman multitask, balance, be patient with her family and yet dare to be unapologetic is what I feel is a complete phenomenal woman. Being a woman, I feel the need of the hour is not to be resentful, but to be calm and and be multidimensional.

I believe anything in excess gets stressful to cope with. Hence, it's extremely important to be able to set your priorities in place (Ladies, this was the most valuable piece of advice that I have got till date from a very close male friend of mine). With that, the only thing that comes to mind is there is only one person in your life who's of utmost importance - YOURSELF.

Let's for once, stop getting this age old sexist divide in the forefront of what a woman can or has to do versus what a man is meant to do. Rather, focus on understanding that both men and women are equal and deserve to be respected that way. Women have to flaunt their feminism with lot more confidence. It's necessary to retain the feminine sensitivities. Nurturing the masculine side, will only do more harm than any good. Ladies, we are not here to win the battle of the hour with men and indulge ourselves in male bashing. The focus needs to be more on making ourselves better rather than letting the male counterpart do that for us.

Ladies, stop being so hard on yourself. Splurge. Love yourself.

Pinkathon - An Awareness to spread

In the wee hours of a Sunday morning, I witness an ocean of young girls, middle aged women and women in their 70's assembling on the roads of Bangalore city to spread the awareness of Breast Cancer and to lend their support in motivating each other and many more about the importance of fitness in their life. They all joined hands with Pinkathon - 3km, 5km and 10km Marathon run organised by SBI.

The registered women, oops sorry, they now are The Pink Sister's as they would fondly like to be addressed, assembled for the warm up session from Sameer and his team who flew down all the way from Delhi to be a part of this noble cause. The vibe and energy in the stadium was magnificent. The joy of feeling good and feeling empowered was clearly the aura. Zumba fitness on peppy music saw all the Pink Sister's sway.

The show steal-er was definitely the hot and a true gentleman Milind Soman. He strongly supports and cheers for the good health of all the women. He's takes utmost interest and promotes awareness on women's health on a large scale. He addressed all the women and flagged off the Pinkathon Bangalore. The man is so fit that it was enough to motivate women to stand at the start line for the run.

Milind Soman

To hear to some of the heart clenching cancer survived women talk about their battles with such a life threatening disease and coming out of it and how, leading a healthy and normal life as any of us today makes us realize how important it is to keep ourselves fit, to be familiar with our own bodies and be alert to even the slightest deviation from it's otherwise normal functions and anatomy. Sending out the message loud and clear by one of the cancer survivor - "Its important to stay abreast about your breasts" was the need of the hour. There definitely was no shying away or even a single moment of awkwardness from the talks and phrases involving a woman's anatomy.

I urge all the women today to be self aware about your health and motivate all your female associations in friends and family to inculcate a healthy lifestyle.

Run for awareness, run for pride and fly with the wind!! Join hands to completely eradicate Breast Cancer.

Stay healthy. Stay fit and love yourself.

An endless, enjoyable drive - My Honda Mobilio

As I walked past the busy street of Lavelle Road in Bangalore on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I couldn't stop myself from giving a second look. Giving a second look to a guy is so passé. I saw this magnificently build white car - Honda Mobilio parked at a bistro. The gleaming sun rays made it look all the more desirable. It instantly hit the right chords in my heart and I decided to go in for a test-drive.

There's absolutely no second thought that a premium brand like Honda would let me down. I had sky-high expectations from this car with the looks it possessed. Let me start with the external features. This is not the first of it's kind in the MPV category, but is comes across as a less boxy design. Personally, I like the Honda logo which is bigger in size and placed at the center of the superior quality steel chrome bar. The ground clearance of this vehicle is class-leading. The bumper is sleeker and the chiselled look on the sides make it a proud Honda prodigy. It has broad and extended wheelbase and a tapering end which satisfies the ask for both people's carrier as well as the sporty look. It has the best in class, stylish hatch which instantly gives it a sophisticated rear.

The first thing you notice as you step inside is the space. There is enough leg room. The dashboard of Mobilio is on the same platform as Honda Brio and Honda Amaze. The seat behind the wheels is adjustable top-down and front back which is a plus point for people belonging to different tallness. The seats are slimmer and can be folded into various combinations making it very flexible. It definitely provides an option to those who are planning to live out of a car. The higher versions of Mobilio have more added features. I really wished the plastic quality on the dashboard was on par with the exteriors. For the brand that Honda claims to be, the finish could have been much better.

The interiors

However, that did not deter me from test driving the car. I am not an expert who specializes on technicalities, but for all the women out there aspiring to drive an SUV/MPV, I certainly have some inputs. I drive a petrol version, i-Vtec (S) precisely, which is 1497CC. At idle, you can hardly hear it and at revs, it's pretty smooth. The clutch to gear shift is extremely effortless. I don't really fancy driving an automated gear shift car. Mobilio has a 5-shift gear box which I thought could have had 6-gears considering the top speed it touches.The certified fuel efficiency for Mobilio is around 17.3kmpl, unless I drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I really feel quite secure as I drive through the Bangalore traffic in Mobilio. Although, quick lane changes are not greeted by an MPV car, you still experience the pleasure of driving it. Being, a Honda class car, Mobilio is reasonbaly powerful and for all the top speed lover's, you will not have a problem cruising at a three-digit speed.

I don't measure my driving pleasure only on speed. For me, it's more of comfort and safety along with speed. Mobilio fits the bill completely and I enjoy my endless drive every single day.

Cupid - Confused and Uncommitted

On Valentine's Day, if there's one being who is ultra-busy is our own Mr.Cupid with the halo on head and bow and arrow waiting to strike at the mushy lovers all over the world. Awww.. how cute!! The demand for him to be available is sky high. To how many can he reach out? How many couplings can he actually succeed in making? That surely is a million dollar question.

The great Indian lover, or might I as well say the global match maker is confused. Ask Why? Because his existence is diminishing with the ever growing technology taking his special place. How often do we say like in our very desi Hindi movies the kabootars (pigeons) carrying the message of love? How likely is it that people today write love notes and surprise their loved ones today?

Gone are the days where songs like "Kya yahi pyaar hai" was on top of every lovers playlist. Today it is substituted with "Baby Doll mein sone di". Where is the essence of love? I know, it's replaced with lust. Love is more like having the hottest chick in town as your arm candy. But with this chick, do you really plan to paint the town red? Not Really. Has the cupid changed his definition or is he confused and uncommitted?

When cupid strikes, how in the world will I know it is you? It's important to have some tricks up your sleeve and not always fall prey to the Red Roses, the Heart shaped lip-smacking dark chocolates. These are just sudden outburst for the day. But will it continue for a lifetime? Our Cupid doesn't have a prepared answer. Sorry.

Not so long ago, cupid explored the parks in search of budding love stories. If the park benches could talk, the love stories that bloomed through a conversations on a bench, they would become epic short stories. It's hard to believe that parks are no more public spaces for love. The paranoia it brings to our lovers by the activists, scares the shit out of people in love. The solution? Parks have been conveniently replaced by Pubs today. You find girls and boys as young as 11 in pubs having a drink and talking with the F-bomb in every statement they  make, like it's their birthright to use the word and impress one another. No surprises here simply because there's no enough commitment. They love the no strings attached. Yeah right! Then why crave for being in love.

For now, I take a leave and let Mr.Cupid clear his head off the confusion and the phobia of commitment.