Rashmi's Space

We have all seen the latest #ShareTheLoad advertisement by Ariel going viral. It is commendable for a prestigious brand like Ariel to propogate gender equality and convey a much needed powerful message the Indian audience today.  The ad shows a woman, deftly managing her home and her work and at the same time also making sure that she caters to every whim of everyone in the house – be it her son or her husband. At the end of the ad, her father is shown realising his folly of having raised her thinking this is alright; and apologising to his daughter on behalf of his entire generation that let both men and women grow up believing in the wrong values. But not anymore , he is shown to decide, changing himself by helping out his wife at home and accepting to “share the load.” .    It is, no doubt, a thoughtful ad on gender equality , and I am sure it resonates with several people as well as with an entire generation of fathers who have never helped th...

It is 6:00 am. She wakes up to the alarm and before anyone else gets disturbed by it, puts it off and lies on her back for five minutes. It's a brand new day! And she has been especially looking forward to starting her day as she has a creative writing assignment to complete today. She needs to write, in detail, about something that makes her truly, honestly happy . And she is looking forward to writing about her passion, her  writing! It is 6:15 am.  She is thinking about her assignment as she enters the kitchen and, being one of those people who are incapable of kick-starting their days without a steaming cup of java, brews a pot of fresh coffee. As it brews, she starts organising her thoughts in her mind; and the ingredients she will need for cooking the breakfast and lunch for the men in her life, on the kitchen counter.   It is 6:30 am.  She has been in the kitchen for a quarter of an hour now, and her prep for the cooking ...

This is a sponsored post for Kellogg's Chocos #Khuljaye Bachpan Campaign and was first published on MyCity4Kids.com We are all looking for a harmonious relationship with our family, especially, our children; and every now and then, we attempt to do something about this. But alas, more often than not, we get caught up in our work and there is always that one email, phone call or urgent message that takes us away from our children for just a few minutes, and then that moment is lost! Obviously, later, we fret about how we can spend more quality time with them. I know the feeling; been there, done that. Time, we all know, is the best thing we can give our children; and I have always looked for ways to spend more and more quality time with my little one. Then one long weekend this January, I found this easiest and the simplest way to (try to) make it up to him! Now, this may not be a fool-proof method I agree, but it is enough for me that I am trying, to begin with. ...

It has been a bright and sunny day. A couple of hours before sunset, the last bright rays of the sun streak in through the window. She sits by her bay window, looking out at the garden, waiting, killing time till she has to go and attend the evening gala. It is an important day for her today. The day when the world will acknowledge her accomplishment, yet again! And she sits by her window, ready to face the world. Confidently. It wasn’t always like this, she remembers. Growing up in a home where her parents’ loyalties always lay with her brother and in a society where everyone always made it look like it was wrong for someone to be born as a woman; she always thought she was lacking something because she was not the male of the species. She has grown up seeing that it is the men who are considered superior. She has seen that it is her brother who is the apple of her parents’ eye and she is, well maybe a sour grape? Even if for a moment she decides to ignore it; the ...

We’ve all heard the expression ‘the wrong side of thirty” right? Actually, it could be the wrong side of anything – thirty, forty or fifty; but the idea is to denote that the so-called right side is passé. And more often than not, this phrase is used in relation to mentioning someone’s age. I know I have been hearing this phase for some time now; and I always thought that anyone on the wrong side of thirty was someone over thirty years old. Then when I turned thirty and I had a lot going on in my life,  I told myself that, cliché or not; for me, 30 was the new 20! And I decided that someone on the wrong side of thirty had to be someone who was more than thirty-five years old. And I had a long way to go! But now it is here. It is finally here. That phrase “ on the wrong side of thirty” is here to haunt me, forever! And so here I am, on the eve of my birthday, wallowing in self-pity that I am finally going to be that woman who is on the wrong side of thirty...

Parenting is a choice. It is an informed decision that changes our life! Parenting is also the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, financial and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.   We all know this. We also know that parenting is a responsibility, that we accept willingly; although we have no clue how we are going to bear it successfully, for the results come much later in this game; and by then it is too late to change our play! So we all do what we think is the best, and hope that things work out the way we want them to.  Earlier, when we did not have the internet or the many resources we have today, we depended on our elders for guidance; but now we depend more and more on parenting books, parenting support groups, parenting websites, and friends and family who are in a situation similar to ours for insight. All this helps us get a larger perspective of the whole parenting hu...