Rashmi's Space

Every house has a routine. Every family has a routine. The husband does a few things, the wife does a few; and the daily grind goes on, like clockwork. So long as everyone sticks to their jobs, and does them perfectly, things go right. Kids reach school on time, adults get to work on time, and all is right with the world. Of course, as simple as it sounds, it also sometimes gets monotonous with everyone just doing ‘the same old.’ And every once in a while, the thought does occur – what if, say, one day the husband did the cooking and the wife drove the kids to school? Wouldn’t it be great to just drive, with songs on, drop the kids, and on the way back, listen to one’s favourite songs? Ah, what a blissful hour that would be! What’s more, there would be hot breakfast ready, thanks to the husband who would have been busy in the kitchen while the wife was out driving and listening to songs – I mean, dropping the kids to school… And then, some days, the smooth clockwork ...

Gender specific roles are a big no-no in today’s day and age. A woman can do just as well, or better what the man does and the man can do everything that a woman can and would traditionally be expected to do. We, as a society, are slowly coming to accept that the man and the woman are equals. That the man is not ‘superior’ as our patriarchal society would have us believe. And many of us (to the utter dismay of the older generation) are trying to model this behaviour in the presence of our children as well. We are trying to get to a point where, as the women grace the high echelons of the corporate world, the men are conquering recipes (some traditional, some modern, and several accidental) in the kitchen, making friends with the children (yes, they are beyond just playing football with the boys and ignoring the girls altogether); and are helping clean the house (okay, that is stretching it too far.) My point is, that The Husband, who was, so far, only expected to drink endle...