The Thought Addict

Once again, the week ended with too much stress. And the weekend also was hectic. It was Sandy-Mandy time, I thought. Even as I was reading the newspaper, I could hear a faint conversation that became louder and clearer as the clock ticked away... Sandy: Arre yaar...museebat yaar... Mandy: What happened? You seem so stressed out... Sandy: This 'colon' is making my head reel. I don't understand anything. My son was preparing for his exam and asked me what a colon was. I escaped from the study room for a few minutes so that I can search for the answer on my phone and let him know. Mandy (equally stressed and concerned): So, did you find the answer? Sandy: That is the problem yaar...one website has some big and colourful pictures, says structure of colon and human anatomy. Another website says it is a punctuation mark used to explain something, start enumeration or list. I forgot to ask my son which colon he wanted to know... Mandy: Big mistake, Beedu! You

As I was browsing through the Matrimonial ads last weekend, I noticed that the words  used in the ads have changed a lot. Even a decade ago, we could find ads that displayed words like "fair, handsome, beautiful, well-educated, homely, caring or loving" for both brides and grooms. Though this is cliched and has triggered a lot of discussions on skin colour and external beauty, here's the latest... Last Sunday, I noticed that the ads sought more "professional, IT employed, financially sound business, income above 1 lakh per month, employed in US, salary 35 lakh pa" professional or employed eligible bachelors and brides... in other words, those who had a heavy price tag in the name of salary and perks. A simple "housewife" has now transformed into a "homemaker" or multi-tasking woman, who sooner or later succumbs to stress and stress-related ailments. Household work like washing clothes, utensils, cleaning and mopping the floor are now