Vocal Mama

Yesterday was women’s day. My phone was bombarded with women’s day messages. I am home-based now but I remember being showered with gifts and chocolates on women’s day when I used to physically visit office. All that feels nice, isn’t it? Everyone loves to be treated with warmth and we women are no exceptions. But is this all what we need in general or on women’s day? I think more than the material items, we need and deserve the gift of freedom, the gift of choice, the gift of being.   Starting from very beginning, our birth is not celebrated as much as a boy’s. We are still considered as a liability than an asset. No matter how good we are at studying or sports, we must know how to handle house hold chores; there is nothing wrong in learning and doing household chores, what’s wrong is the bias around it that only women need to do all that. We must learn the art of respecting and pleasing people and the list is never ending. When we grow up and start working, we usually encounter m...

Yuvaan was 7 months old when we took a family trip to Agra in 2020. After that, the pandemic hit and left us home-bound. Now when things were settled, we planned a small trip to Rishikesh. It’s a 4 hour drive from our place and seemed do-able with a toddler. One of my cousin’s family (him, Bhabhi, and their adorable 8 years old daughter Anika) joined us for the vacay: the more; the merrier. Y has met Anika numerous times and he loves her to the core, he calls her Anika didi. The trip started with both these kids chilling on the backseat of the car. They played, ate, and watched peppa pig on A’s tablet. No fuss, no tantrums, only fun and joy. The trip felt like a cakewalk. After 2 hours, we took a halt to chill and eat. After lunch, both the kids slept and parents enjoyed the quite time.   We reached Rishikesh in another 2 hours. Y was elated and excited to look at a water entity and the hills. We took a boat ride and both the kids were so happy that they denied to get off the boat....