we are like this only

I am not a big supporter of days – Valentine’s day and Mother’s day and the like – I consider them hokey and made up. And the way that International Women’s Day has come to be represented in society and the media certainly makes it no less trivial – every brand ‘salutes’ women and then goes on to offer discounts for beauty and fashion products as if that would suffice to celebrate womanhood the world over. It is not a day to be ‘celebrated’ and certainly not with sales offers and free spa offers and mani-pedis, as if all we need to distract us from the gender imbalance of society is a few beauty treatments or a shopping outlet. And then the next day we can go back to business as usual! International Women’s Day should be a day to remind us of the distance covered and the millions of miles to go before we sleep. It is a day on which, as members of society, and the many stakeholders, from government to corporations, political parties, entertainers, artists - we all need to reflect on t...

Women's Day happens to coincide with Chubbocks' birthday. The first time a big hoo-hah was being made of the day, I was getting my stomach cut open and spent the rest of the day in a comatose condition induced by the general anaesthetic. Since then, I can give you a breakdown of the standard women's day drill in our household: 1. Wake up early and wish Chubbocks 2. Get started on making his favourite breakfast/ lunch 3. Clean up in a frenzy 4. Be in the kitchen, most likely barefoot, and in my case given the number of kids, pregnant, cooking party food since I'm an oldfashioned mom and insist that birthday parties be at-home affairs 5. Barely get ready by the time half the guest list has arrived 6. Run around like mad at said party, making sure everyone's eaten, drunk and generally enjoyed themselves 7. Organise dinner for in-laws and spouse 8. Go to bed, every bone in the body aching This year we added one new step: -1. Stay awake most of the night between feeding ...