Z- Zero

In a big town, lived a small family. The man, the wife, and two sons. Very simple, very down to earth people...especially, the man of the house. The family was never bothered about anyone in the world. Their network and resources were limited to their own self. No friend circle, no socializing, no close relatives or family members to lean on or let’s just say, they weren’t that close to anyone for that matter.

The man owned a small cosmetic business and made frugal money. As his sons grew old, their expenses started increasing. They weren’t given a fancy education and so the boys didn’t turn out to be that smart. Thus, they became the laughing stock at every place they went. All their cousins were rich and received good exposure in their careers, while these boys were pertained to the vicinity of their small town. They didn’t know how to deal with the world; they had no idea how to handle difficult situations and thus, ended up being bullied by distant cousins most of the times.

Their parents knew everything but couldn’t do anything about it. They thought that the boys will learn with age.

Unfortunately, they didn’t!

The family was always late to wherever they reached! Be it a wedding or a general get together, the family was never on time, because all four of them were dead slow, therefore again becoming a point for everyone to laugh at.

In the midst of meeting ends in life and not caring about anyone around or forgoing that competitive spirit, the man was left way behind. He was so simple and sweet that when people made fun of him, he never got the joke and just gave a passing smile to be a part of the conversation!

As his son came of age to get married, he bought a small flat for his family to live. And yet, when people came in, they never really appreciated the man because at this time his son had joined the small business without contributing much. He wanted to sit in the shop as a part time thing and while away the rest of the time with his friends.

Everyone thought that when the boys would join the business, they would expand and open a new line but here, they started fighting over who will sit for how much time in a day!

The family was soon labeled as a zero! Zero in everything... zero in working, zero at growing, zero at networking, zero at earning... it was only zero that everyone talked and nothing beyond that when the name of the family was mentioned.

Source

The boys always blamed their father for a life like this! They would find faults in him for not making enough money or not give them a luxurious life or accused him of his simplicity!

While the man, on the other hand, kept wondering what did he ever do wrong? Any place he went, everyone made fun of him, his parents boycotted him and left him on road to make a life of his own and he did... but couldn’t make it large... he couldn’t make it big. He was an honest man and never really found means of making more through unfair means. And today, when he is trying to put this value system in his sons, he is being lampooned for the same!

Sure we live in times, where honesty and simplicity are hardly given any value!

Cheers 

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X- Xanthippe

Once there was a couple who had a daughter and a son. The man was a humble human being, jolly natured and full of life. While the woman, on the other hand, was a chatterbox (beyond the level of anyone’s control), ill-tempered and a cantankerous wife.

It was when their children were teenagers when the man of the house did something about which the woman couldn’t do anything until today. While returning from work one day, he saw a baby girl in a basket near all the garbage. He heard the baby cry and looked around for her parents, but found no one. The baby’s wailing was crushing the man’s soul. He couldn’t leave the baby there, could he? But then, he feared his wife. He knew she wouldn’t be happy with this but decided to follow his heart. After all, who could turn their face away from this little angel, he thought.

Source

When he took the baby home, he was kind of prepared for his wife’s reaction. And just the way he thought, she was furious! What in the world was he thinking?! Wasn’t he happy with the two kids he had? And even if he wanted another, he and his wife could have made one... why bring anyone from the streets... Oh! Not streets, but a pile of garbage!

The man wanted to give that baby a life he gave to his children. While the woman had some other plans.

When the girl grew up, the man wanted to send her school but the woman didn’t like the idea. She wanted her to stay home and dance on her tunes!

After all, it was their prerogative to see what to do or not! They gave her good clothes, good family, good house, good school, and good friends and so on. And in return, if she had to do a bit of household work then that was a very less price that she was paying for it.

Everything happened when the man left the house for work and the girl was home from school. At the age of 11, the girl did their laundry, washed their dishes, polished the floor and dusted every corner of the house.... everything after school. She wasn’t left with any time to study and thus her grades fell in the class.

Yet, she never complained and loved the family very much. No matter, how her aunt treated her, she loved them all unconditionally and did everything she asked her to. After all, they gave such a good life to someone they didn’t even know!

But there was one peculiar thing that annoyed the woman. No matter how much she yelled at the girl, she was never rude. Whenever she tried harming her (physically), the bad happened to her family instead! One fine afternoon, she tried getting the girl out of the house and in the evening, her daughter met an accident. Once she tried making the girl fall off the stairs and found her husband fall because of the slippery floor. She once locked the girl in a store room and found his son drowning in the swimming pool the other day. It came as a shock and an eye opener to her because her son was a state level champion in swimming.

It was slowly and gradually she connected all the dots and realized that the girl was different. No one could ever harm her. If she ever tried doing anything fishy with her, it automatically harmed her family!

Due to this fear, she stopped using her evil tricks on the girl. And kind of accepted her as a family member but she still continued making her do all the household chores.

The girl was happy as ever. For her, this was her family and she did everything she could to make her aunt happy!

Cheers

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Xanthippe was the name of Socrates’ wife, who, thanks to a number of Ancient Greek caricatures, had a reputation for henpecking, overbearing behavior. Consequently, her name can be used as a byword for any ill-tempered or cantankerous woman or wife—as used in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. ^Source

Welcome to my Blog! This A to Z Challenge, my theme is ‘Let’s see the other Side’. Through this theme, I'm trying to giving voice lot of things that go around us and yet I can't do much to bring about the change. I feel, sharing my thoughts in my space here will somewhere make someone think and bring about the change we all want to see!
where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

Feel free to express your thoughts and I'd be all ears!

I hope you have a great time here!

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W- Witch

A 50-year-old woman to her friend:

‘I sometimes, feel like an outsider to my family’

‘That’s not true! What makes you say that?’

‘Nothing major. It’s just that there are a few things that happen in the house which make me feel small... may be careless or not responsible’

‘You are 55, woman! You have lived your whole life thinking about everyone in your family, you have sacrificed so much for them, you have given so much to them... you can’t feel small after doing all of this! Tell me what happened?’

‘I guess. But my family doesn’t feel that way. It was just in the morning today when my granddaughter was playing in our room on the floor (who is 14 months old) when suddenly my DIL (daughter-in-law) came in and snapped at me for not looking at her daughter properly’

‘What was wrong in that?’

‘I know! I still cannot fathom the reason behind such an attitude’

‘There is no reason! Your DIL is a witch! That is how girls are these days. They think only they know what is best as if we have done nothing in our lives. And this is when they have only one child. Imagine, in our times, we had 5-6 children along with the other children in the same house and everything turned out good for everyone’

Source

Another 28-year-old to her friend:

‘You know things are really different in this house’

‘Different? Why? What happened?’

‘Nothing ya. Everyone in this house is so carefree... or careless I must say that they don’t think about small things that can happen! I am not raised like this and I cannot handle how things work in this house’

‘But what happened, S... why are you so upset?’

‘You know what happened in the morning today? My daughter was playing in mummyji’s (addressed to mother-in-law) room on the floor, which is no problem. I know she keeps it clean. But she was sitting near the electric board and was trying to play with the plug by inserting her fingers in the switch! Can you beat that? And there was a charger connected to the other plug which was again in her hands! When I saw this, I completely lost it! I can’t take this ya! How can they not see that? And it is so dangerous! Anything could have happened! Gone are the days when there used be 5-children in the house. I have only one daughter and if anything happens to her, I don’t know what I will do!

Instances like this happen all the time in the house. And then they feel bad, that I become rude, at times! You tell what am I supposed to do?’

Cheers

Welcome to my Blog! This A to Z Challenge, my theme is ‘Let’s see the other Side’. Through this theme, I'm trying to giving voice lot of things that go around us and yet I can't do much to bring about the change. I feel, sharing my thoughts in my space here will somewhere make someone think and bring about the change we all want to see!
where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

Feel free to express your thoughts and I'd be all ears!

I hope you have a great time here!

Read More

V- Voracious

There lived a poor man in a small town in the state of Gujarat. He worked as a laborer in various fields; dug wells did whatever menial job he could find. Doing this, he made 5000 a month but given the demands of his family, he always fell short of money. No, his family wasn’t greedy but he had four children out which three of them ate the food the amount of two families in a month, in just one week! It was only after when their fourth baby was born, and the increase in the abnormal weight within the first year made them realize that it is in the family. His first daughter is normal and isn’t overweight. But the second one, Yogita (age 5)weighs around 34 kg, next one, Anisha, (age 3) weighs 48kg and his son, Harsh, who is 18 months old weigh 15 kg.

Source

These children are addressed as ‘sumo babies’ by the neighbors. The man in the house makes every possible effort to make his family feed as much as he can. The children start making noises and cry as well if they feel hungry and aren’t fed at that time.

The mother stays in the kitchen all the time and gets frustrated as well sometimes, but then realizes how frustrating it is for her children to not being able to meet their hunger. The children are hungry all the time.

“Yogita and Anisha eat 18 flatbreads, 1.4kg of rice, two bowls of soup, six packets of crisps, five packs of biscuits, 12 bananas and a litre of milk daily. And their extreme hunger means their mother Pragna Ben, 30, spends most of her day making their meals. She said: "My day starts with making 30 chapatis and 1kg vegetable curry in the morning. After that, I am again in the kitchen preparing more food. Their hunger never stops. They demand food all the time and cry and scream if they’re not fed. I am always in the kitchen cooking for them.” Read more: https://www.naij.com/423311-parents-of-the-worlds-heaviest-children-tell-their-story.html

 The family did get a little help from the government and got the weight loss surgery done but it didn’t help much and now due to lack of funds, the father is now going to sell his kidney in order to make a fund for his morbidly obese three children’s treatment.

Initially, when their daughter was weak, they fed her more and more, due to which she got indulged in the habit of eating voraciously.

The man feels helpless. He can see how harmful it is going to get for his daughters in the future and yet the only option he is left with, is feeding them day and night.

When I discussed this with a couple of people, their response kind of shocked me. People suggested, that the family to give their children to an orphanage or ask anyone to adopt them or simply send them away rather than selling the kidney! Sometimes, I feel how can people simply suggest of abandoning the child when they are parents themselves! I fail to put myself in their shoes and understand their perspective. Parents do every possible thing that they can in the world, for their children. Sending them away would be the last thing to do! 

All I wish for the family is to get the right treatment for their children and find a solution to overcome this huge problem.

You can read more about it here and see the video below:

Cheers
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Welcome to my Blog! This A to Z Challenge, my theme is ‘Let’s see the other Side’. Through this theme, I'm trying to giving voice lot of things that go around us and yet I can't do much to bring about the change. I feel, sharing my thoughts in my space here will somewhere make someone think and bring about the change we all want to see!
where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

Feel free to express your thoughts and I'd be all ears!

I hope you have a great time here!

Read More

R- Rich

In the lower middle-class family, a genius boy was born named Sumit. With the frugal money that his parents could save, they made him go to a good school. The boy had a knack for numbers and performed outstandingly well in Maths. He participated in various competitions, science Olympiads, inter-school events and so on. As he bagged prizes in the majority of the competitions, he earned himself a scholarship at IIT coaching classes. And there isn’t any surprise in the fact that he did have admission to the most prestigious institute of the country.

His charm couldn’t escape in college as well and soon everyone knew about him. After college, he bagged a good placement and then got married to a girl from the similar background as theirs.

As both of them were earning, their financial position improved drastically. Sumit made sure to improve their financial status and give his parents a comfortable life. He knew how difficult life had been for his parents and how much they struggled in their youth just to pay for his education. That is why he wanted to be rich. And give his parents a life that they had never dreamt of.

In between all of this his father died. It was a hard time for the family but they survived. Naturally, his mother was devastated, but soon she got the gift of the grandchild and she couldn’t be any happier.

While his wife decided to stay at home for the kids, Sumit soared new heights in his career... promotions and rewards kind of became the occasional thing to celebrate in the family. He made the kind of money that no one in his clan ever made. He had distant relatives who were quite well-off but Sumit left them all behind in the race of making money.

Soon, he became the CEO of the company which was valued a billion dollar enterprise. His work required him to travel overseas and their company knew know limits.

His interviews, articles, his achievements at such a less age were something every news article, magazine and journals were loaded with. He made a huge house for his family... which now had an additional member, his daughter, who was the apple of his eyes.

A lot of events were organized to award him for his achievements in life he was honored at a couple of events and was invited to felicitate the upcoming talent in the country. By this time, he was quite a celebrity. But one thing that made him so dear to everyone was in spite of being at the top and a global face now, he was always grounded to his roots! Never he ever that kind of snobbish attitude. He had always been a down to earth person.

Life was picture perfect. He had a huge house, a beautiful wife, two adorable kids, his mother and all the resources in the world. The family took frequent vacations abroad and lead a luxurious life.

His life is all set... and his wife and children are really lucky to enjoy this kind of life, what else could one ask for, one should live life the way they do, they have no worries in life, the kids too are smart, the mother has a great circle, and the old lady in the house is relishing the days nobody ever thought she would... this is what everyone who knew the family talked about!

They were living the life shown in the movies!

But this was not it. There was another side to it which only the family knew and they were fighting it day and night. Their daughter, who was only 4, was fighting cancer! She was diagnosed with blood cancer when she was 1 and since then, it was all about rushing to the hospitals and getting the right treatment. The doctors had told them she would hardly survive! It would be a miracle if she would be able to make it till 10! Not a single soul in the world knew the family would be going through so much! For, for the world, it was ‘the perfect life’ they were living. While in reality, they were fighting each day!

It didn’t matter then if he had money, it didn’t matter if he was rich and successful... all that mattered was the life of his daughter.

Cheers

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Welcome to my Blog! This A to Z Challenge, my theme is ‘Let’s see the other Side’. Through this theme, I'm trying to giving voice lot of things that go around us and yet I can't do much to bring about the change. I feel, sharing my thoughts in my space here will somewhere make someone think and bring about the change we all want to see!
where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

Feel free to express your thoughts and I'd be all ears!

I hope you have a great time here!

Read More

O- Old Age

Source

Old age is the time when you’re dependent on your children... not just financially but physically as well. 

We all have heard stories of how kids leave their parents in the old-age homes because they suddenly start feeling parents are more of a burden and a plethora of thoughts have been expressed on this issue where we all empathize with the senior citizens of the country.

Most of the times when you visit someone’s house and see an old person who is not very well, sitting on the bed quietly, you kind of give a mercy glance at them... You chit-chat with them and then they start to open up and tell you how their family don’t care for them or don’t sit with them or just simply give food as if they’re some animal and the likes.

Sure, you don't the like idea of them being treated like this and you sort of feel bad, which is what a normal human being would feel and what option are you left with anyway? 

Well, there’s another side of the story which you can’t see.  No one can really see!

What if the family takes care of every single need of the elders and fulfills almost every demand... even if it means making a halwa at midnight! Sure the family doesn’t sit with the old person. But do you know whenever they do, both of them end up having a tiff altogether! And above all, what if all they want is to bitch about other family member and then bitch about you to that family member?

When you know this, would you want to sit with them? Plus, this is the current scenario! What about the past? Ever heard the stories of Indian mother-in-laws? Well, some of them end up being in jail because of the way they treat their daughter-in-laws!

So where were we? Oh! The past!

In the past life when she was the head of the family, what did she do to her DIL? She did not give  her food when she was pregnant, she’d hit her head if she ever saw that pallu going back from head, she threw away the plate of food because it wasn’t her favourite dish, she’d hit her in front of everyone, she’d abuse her day and night, she made her the maid of the house who worked from 6 am till 11 pm without a single break, she didn’t leave a single stone unturned to make her life hell after marriage!

Spending the golden phase of your life which will never come back, in such a misery like this takes away a lot of emotions from you and makes you numb!

That’s the case in so many houses, that’s the reason the family doesn’t want to sit with them and don’t want to do things wholeheartedly. Sure they would serve them 24*7 and be on their toes to everything they command; but that love and respect for them, that willingness to spend time with them can never come... no matter how hard they try!

When I was a child, I felt everything that adults did was right, and everyone is a good person. But things are never the way they look. 

So next time when you judge a family, try to know the inside story behind it! 

Cheers

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Welcome to my Blog! This A to Z Challenge, my theme is ‘Let’s see the other Side’. Through this theme, I'm trying to giving voice lot of things that go around us and yet I can't do much to bring about the change. I feel, sharing my thoughts in my space here will somewhere make someone think and bring about the change we all want to see!
where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

Feel free to express your thoughts and I'd be all ears!

I hope you have a great time here!

Read More

M- unabashed Mother

Source

When you’re on your own, doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, you do a lot of things in life. Some are selfless and some are selfish which means that you’re accountable only to yourself and you don’t need to answer anyone. You live the way you want, eat, sleep, go out or take random trips without being dependent on anyone. But once you get married, things change.

You need to think of your partner as well before making a big decision and involve them as well, which is totally fine.

But when you have kids, things turn upside down for both of you.

Now here is something, that mostly happens or what is generally done. Of course, there are exceptions to it.

So you do things the way you’ve seen them being done. If you’ve had your first baby as a girl, you don’t feel guilty about getting a test done for the second child and wish for it to be a boy. Not to mention, I doubt if anyone would go to see if their second child is daughter because they already have a son!

And now you’re the mother. And being the mother gives you every right to your child for its well-being. You will do everything possible if it’s good for the child.

It is all about that moment, which barely lasts a second but your mind comes across those thousands of thoughts.

You become unapologetically selfish for your family, you have your own reasons to do things and you don’t feel guilty about any of it! There is not an iota of regret in you! Why? Because those protective instincts make you do so and you did what you had to do for your child, even if it’s wrong!

And let’s assume you stay in a joint family, in a house loaded with people and children as many as they could make a cricket team altogether, you do a lot of things for your child to push him ahead, or let the other ones stay behind!

Be it keeping aside food or his favourite snack because he’s not around or grabbing the opportunity for your child before anyone else in the house, being prompt and making sure that your child wouldn’t miss anything, giving in to the whims and fancies of your child every single time, covering up their mistakes in front of the father or any other elder, hiding the heinous crimes (if ever they did) they commit, you play games as well and you do it unabashedly! Because you did what you had to do without caring about its consequences. 

A lot of people do that. I don’t know what is right or wrong. All I know is that it exists and this is all being human, I feel. Instances like going for an ultrasound to see if it’s a boy disturb me big time. But that’s what many (not all) women do. Again unapologetically! 

Cheers 

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F- Freedom

Once there lived a girl who belonged to a poor family. Her life was a struggle with no comfort at all. One day she fell in love with a boy, who unlike her came from a rich background. They got married one day and were soon blessed with a baby girl.

The baby girl turned out to be a bully in her teen years. Because of puberty, she had put on a lot of weight and she always wore clothes that revealed every curve of her body. Tight jeans and tight top became the talk of the town at every stop! Plus, she lived in a conservative family which meant no freedom of her own!

While the school grades kept going down, the number of blank calls on their landline rose like never before. Rumors about her roaming on the streets with boys and doing offensive things in public were the only topic that was discussed amongst everyone. She disobeyed and disrespected everyone who questioned her way of living and yet her parents supported her and accepted the fact that she wants to live her life and no one should interfere. This was when she was only 14!

She was the apple of their eyes and they fulfilled her every single demand. Never did they once tell her the importance of good values, respect for elders and modesty, because they didn’t want their daughter to go through anything that was remotely difficult. And yet her teenage years were difficult!

After completing her education, she found a nice guy for herself and got married to him. Her parents didn’t really like the guy and found him to be one hooligan but couldn’t say much about their daughter’s choice.

Soon the love fever was over and life became a daily war for the couple! Both of them hit and abuse each other and treated one another worse than animals. Sometimes, the girl tried to mend things. And in the lure of making things right, she forcefully had a baby, hoping it would make things right one day, just the way elders say in our society. But things didn’t change. Rather, her husband grew even more violent because he never wanted to have a baby!

After spending 9 futile years on her marriage, she’s finally getting a divorce!

And the baby shall live with the mother.

Source

Whose fault was it? The mother who thought she would give her daughter everything.. a life that she never got and thus never scolded her for anything. Was she wrong in thinking this? Or the father who saw in the early years that his daughter wasn’t walking on the right track, and yet left everything on time! Or the family, in spite of being aware of her actions uttered a word, neither to her nor to her parents?!

The freedom to let her live the way she felt like did a lot more damage than repairing it!

Tell me what you think? Were the parents right? Was the mother right in thinking of giving every possible happiness to her daughter? I know a little bit of strictness is important but how do you justify the totally unreasonable behavior of your child? Growing years are the foundation of one’s character. What was done, do you think it was right in the eyes of the mother who supported her daughter unabashedly?

What's your take on it?

Cheers            
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Welcome to my Blog! I’m so happy to have you here! This A to Z Challenge, I’m going to give you a ride and take you to all the places untouched! My theme this year is ‘Let’s see the other Side’, where I’ll be sharing about the daily nuances that we’ve been seeing in the same way since 1990’s! (:P) But this time you’re going to ponder over it a bit differently.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cheers                                                 

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E- Extra Marital Affair

In the corner of a big city lived a girl named Lata. Born in a poor family didn’t give her any opportunity that is given to girls of her age. She didn’t go to school and got married at the age of 16. Also, she was a pretty woman and was fond of keeping herself presentable at all times. She loved buying cosmetics, new clothes, footwear, earrings and what not! But her pocket didn’t allow so.

Her marriage started on a sad note, with being abused and beaten every night and soon she was carrying a baby in her belly. A year passed and there was another child. Her husband was out on weekdays and came home only on weekends because of his work. Her in-laws never supported her for anything and whenever their son was home, they filled his ears with lies and foul statements about her.

But she never really bothered to explain anything because she knew it in her heart nothing’s going to change and she kind of learned to live with it.

Soon there was a financial crisis in the family and she had to look for work in order to meet the ends. Soon she landed with a cook’s job!

Every day, she would get up on time and finish her house chores and leave for work, all decked up from top to bottom. No one could ever say that she was the house staff. She looked more like the owner of the house. Neatly draped saree with a fashionable deep neck blouse, a big bindi, bangles, chain, and fancy accessories were a few mandatory things without which she wouldn’t leave the house.

As she was earning, their financial condition improved! She started spending money wisely. Her expenses were distributed in such a way that she could meet the daily needs along with giving her children quality food, clothes, and other necessary items.

During this while, she fell for a man. She would take leave from work or leave a little early to meet him and while at work, she would spend afternoons on phone talking to that guy.

A few people in her neighborhood saw her with that man and labeled her as a characterless woman. Ladies prohibited their teenage daughters from being seen anywhere around her.

Yes, there was a fear in her mind... what if the husband finds out? He would kill her!

But she didn’t feel guilty about any of it!

No one valued her in the house; husband didn’t have time for her, and no one ever appreciated how drastically she improved everything in the house! She worked day and night but no one was bothered about her.

In the midst of this, when she met a man who had all his attention to her, who had time for her, who had fallen for her and who would do anything to make her happy, she couldn’t resist and started her affair with him. She knew it was wrong and... temporary, but all she cared for was a few moments of love and being loved in her life!

I am not vouching for an affair but tell me where was she wrong? Yes, having an affair outside marriage is condemned big time, but who doesn’t want to be loved? She couldn’t quit her marriage! Her father was ill; her brothers would never take her back. Where would she go? And in between all of this, her children’s life would be spoilt. 

She wouldn’t risk their lives! And so she chose to have an extra-marital affair and risk her life instead!

Tell me your thoughts, right here, right now!

Cheers

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