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It isn't easy to opt out of the rat race. The daily grind, the commute to and back from office, the perks and pay cheque, and lastly, the comfort of monotony, all of these are too hard to give up for most people. But some of us do give up, and opt for a different way of life. A life, where we choose how much and what work we do. Where we can balance our homes and family life with the need to prove ourselves professionally. We opt to freelance or work-from-home or work part-time.   It is not easy, trust me, to say no to lucrative jobs that demand you to be in office from 9 to 6 or more. Where you are expected to regularly travel for work and report to office on weekends. You know you have to take a call. Do you want the fat pay cheque, the regular increments and promotions, the steady rise to the top on the corporate ladder? Or do you want to spend time savouring moments of togetherness with your loved ones? Do you wish to spend the best part of your your life attending busine...

Homemakers in India are controlled by only one entity -  the kaamwali bai or the ubiquitous housemaid. India happens to be one country where manual domestic helps still run the show, unlike western countries where every chore is done through automation. We still prefer to be dependent on the daily help who comes for an hour or so, and mops, cleans and washes with machine-like efficiency. Some lucky, or unlucky ones, as you look at it, have cooks too, who come and do the cooking. And mothers of very young children, and conversely, children of very old people, have ayahs who assist in managing the babies and the infirm. I am sure that if these people stopped coming to our houses one fine day, our households would come to a standstill. In that way, you could say, they are the backbone of our domestic life. Our homes are spic and span, and we can go about our business with a free mind because of these people. Every housewife's ultimate nightmare is the moment she hears those dre...

Middle age is rather a difficult beast to deal with. Yes yes, the forties are the new thirties and all that, but the fact remains that being on the wrong side of forties has me grappling with physical and mental issues like never before. For one, your skin and hair are not what they once were. Patchiness shows up on the face, and so do fine lines on the skin. The hair is greying at an alarming rate, and thinning with equal speed. Digestive problems have cropped up from nowhere. Joints have started creaking and sending alarming painful signals from time to time. And God knows what the state of the heart, kidneys, liver etc. are. No, I have not gone for regular check-ups as advised by all medical sermons. The mind starts acting like it has its own mind. Swaying from chirpy and cool at one moment to black and filthy at the next, it becomes a challenge to keep in control. Pre-menopausal effects are here with a bang. So what's the silver lining? It is the network of relationships...

Corporate work-life can be very unpredictable and demands constant performance and keeping on your toes. You may find yourself lagging in the rat race if you don't watch out. Following are some signs or rather warning signals that your career may not be exactly looking up. Sign 1:    You are  doing the same things day in and day out. Work has become drudgery and you are going through the motions mechanically. When you are not enjoying your job, not growing or learning, you are at a professional dead end. Monotony and routine are part of the corporate work-life, but within the work structure and your job profile, you must enjoy what you do. You must have some scope for value addition to your knowledge and skills. In plain words, your career must be going somewhere. If you have reached the end of the road, better watch out! Sign 2:   People reporting to you are now either in the same level, or are reporting to other people. A sure-shot sign that you ...

Have you noticed, that as you grow old, you and your companion (spouse/partner/sibling) increasing sound and behave like one another? Maybe it has something to do with the influence of company, or maybe people do change and adapt to each other in such a way that they adopt the other's characteristics and make them their own. Take food choices for example. The hubby was a rigid Bengali, fixed in his culinary tastes with a penchant for all things Bengali. I was more cosmopolitan in my choice of food. Now after 16 years of marriage, he prefers to have matar paneer, garlic prawn and biriyani, while I look forward to shukto and mocha ghonto. Once a confirmed Chinese foodie, he now digs kebabs and tikkas, while I happily gorge Chinese fare at restaurants. Why, I now prefer to cook garlic chicken to chicken cooked in Indian style. Or lifestyle choices. A couple I know has adjusted to each other so much that the husband doesn't even remember that he was a late riser not so lon...

Going on a vacation? Wow! Lovely! You are sure to have a lot of fun. Sunny beaches, lush mountains, heritage sites, or rolling meadows and green forests, a holiday to any one of these is just what the doctor ordered to beat the stress of regular life. Sit back and relax or go adventuring, its your call. You are going to have a great time, right? Wrong! Because you need to stay somewhere and what you see is hardly what you get in holiday stays. Pardon me for cribbing, but all those rosy pictures painted by websites and travel brochures usually are just that - rosy pictures. Lets do a reality check of all the marketing hype around places to stay: "Serene, calm, cozy resort in the midst of lush green forests that are abundant with flora and fauna" usually turns out to be a bunch of huts in the middle of nowhere, devoid of any amenities, where spending a night tackling power-cuts and mosquito bites turns out to more of an adventure than the forest trail  "3-star fa...

Autumn has a melancholic feel about it. Especially the long evenings. Twilight fading away brings with it a strange kind of sadness and nostalgia. You almost unconsciously begin to think about days gone by, lost friends, forgotten experiences... Maybe it has something to do with the weather and changes in nature. The crisp slightly chilly wind blowing around, the long, starry nights, the stillness when fans stop whirring, and the heaps of dried leaves on the ground, all come together to create nostalgia and melancholy. How can one forget Keats' memorable lines in his "Ode to Autumn"? I quote: " Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find   Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;   15 Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep," Yes, there is a strange languidness associated with this season.... A desire to lie back and watch as nature changes hues, seems overpowering.  In India, autumn ushers in the ...