Happy Women’s Day !

Blessed indeed I am to have been nurtured by two adorable woman all through my life – My Mom and Sister

I can’t thank God enough for making me spend almost 20 odd years observing these people, their emotions, their guts, their mood swings and their struggles throughout their life. It has made me look at all other woman that I have met since then with respect rather than contempt. This could have easily happened had I not had the opportunity to grow along with a sister especially. A guys alone environment makes you fall prey to all the other dismissive and totally wrong cliches about women that exist.

I did not realise how much I loved my sister until the evening of her marriage. The very thought that my favourite punching bag, my chocolate stealer, sworn enemy in “capture the remote” fights, the butt of my jokes at home was packing her bags to leave us all behind and begin a fresh episode in her life left a lump in my throat. I sobbed like a kid that day , leaning on the pillars of the “chathram” as I wished her good luck and waved back as the van in which she was seated faded gradually out of my sight. I am not a very emotional person when it comes to moist eye matters.. so I cant remember when I wept before that and I dont care if I ever wept after that !

Right in front of my very own eyes, I have seen her transform from a despicable devil who refused to share chocolates, respect my time, not let me listen to “Cibaca Geethmala” by stuffing almost the entire radio into her ears alone, into a selfless angel who sacrificed her time,sleep and hunger once she attainted motherhood.. I know how it feels to bang the head on a lampost during a blindfolded cycle race and stay blacked out for a few hours, or see some of your skin on knees and arms ripped off thanks to a dive on the cricket field, and I also know what it feels like to have a 5 1/4 ounce cricket ball crash right between the ones that God has already given you below your tummy and now,having watched from close quarters, I also know to appreciate the fact that it is not even 0.00000001 % of what a women experiences in labour pain and the days after delivery.. Salute you all brave women

Mom, where do I start if I have to talk about you ? I cant thank you enough, I cant love you enough and I cant repay you enough.. what do I talk about ? The fact that you told the doctor “do not bother whatever happens to me, hand over this kid safely to his Dad who is on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala ” when, I complicated matters due to lack of patience and eagerness to step into the world prematurely in 8 1/2 months itself how do I repay you for those moments when you taught me to carefully place my arms to cover my head that would not settle down properly for atleast 8 months , in case I had a fall, and adorned the entire flooring with beds so that I would not be deprived of the opportunity to play despite that temporary handicap, or those dark days when illness had chances of turning critical and you spent almost 2 months in hospital with me, keeping awake to let me sleep..

How do I thank you enough for having me taught how to win, how to accept defeats, for having disciplined me into avoiding “non good” habits, and most importantly how to respect other women.. forget it words are not enough..even the Gods cant lend their scripts to sing your glory..

I always thought when people say, my kid at home is a brat who does super natural stunts, and has great fun and frolic all time, they obviously were referring to boys. Everything changed once Paddu ( my niece) stepped into this world on September 15, 2004. She is a far more terrifying brat who can match guys word for word, stare for stare, stunt for stunt and perhaps out-do them too ! And the very fact that she is being guided by a woman who was nurtured by my mother promises her a very rosy future ( Sorry Athimber, this is a Women’s day special ). She is perhaps the only girl who trades kisses with me

Apart from them, great friends who happened to by girls, both during my school and college times have also played a great role in shaping my attitude towards the fairer sex. I cant name each and every one of you, for your own privacy sake, but all those of you who are close to me would know who all I am remembering and wishing, at this moment

Not for a moment am I indicating I am an “enternal non male chauvanist” , in fact I beleive that it is practically impossible to be an eternal non male chauvanist throughout your life and I guess it is the order of nature that men and women fight over it ( Sorry I am not good at biology, people who know my artistic skills will know why I opted for Computer Science in X1 standard, so I will stop at this point, and yeah, not that I was too good in Comp. Sci either ; just that I was left with very few choices ), but if you grow up in the company of real good women, the animal of “male chauvanism” within you will defenitely be tempered.

We may have fought against you, teased you, taunted you with our victories but we need you forever: you have made us laugh, smile within ourselves, shake our heads in anguish, feel good ;great; romantic; depressed; ecstatic :do bear with us the world will be incomplete without you

I will just quote some of my favourite lines from a few songs that remain very close to my heart ( I think some are Vaali’s lines, and the rest, I am not sure)

” Vinnai Padaithan, Mannai Padaithan
Kaatrum Mazhaiyum Oliyum Padaithan
Boomi Ku Adhanal Nimmadhi Illai, Saami thavithan
THAAYAI PADAITHAN “

” Sorgam Edharku, En Ponnulagam Pennuruvil Pakkam Irukku, Kannae Vaa “

” Vinnavarkum Mannavarkum
Vilai Attra Selvam Penn “

To My Mom, Sis, Darling Paddu and all those lovable women who have made a difference to my life, my heartiest thanks and wishes -HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY