Naari – The Woman

Tuesday – Top 5

Ok, so on Tuesdays I am planning to bring to you my “top 5” list for various things. You can share yours also using comments. Who knows we might discover several ‘like-minded people’ around?

Today, I would like to start with my “Top 5 fiction writers”.

For a bookworm like me the choice is really difficult one. I have been reading since my mom taught me how to. Even before I went to school I loved reading and would read children’s books like “Chandoba”, stories for kids etc, of course, in Marathi. My teachers taught me English and Hindi languages and also imbibed in me a love for literature.

I adore books. I can easily skip food and sleep to spend time with a good one. There were summer holiday times at my home when my mom would angrily tell me not to touch a book while she was awake, because once I had a book, I would sit oblivious to my surroundings. Totally lost. Not responding to her calls or anyone else’s. There are still times when I am experiencing some physical pain (like after a couple surgeries etc) and books are my pain-killers.

I respect all writers. People who create a world with words. But here are the ones I love reading. Have ordered them in chronological order not priorities. Simply because I could not do justice to one by ranking him / her below the others.

1. Enid Blyton – The first English books I read when I was in school were mostly “Famous Five”, “Secret Seven”, “Nancy Drew”, “Hardy Boys”. The Famous Five are my personal favorite till date. I love the way Enid Blyton describes a scene, specially the details about food items – Juicy apples and Marmalade and Strawberry Jam and Lemonades. Yummmm. Love it.

2. Agatha Christie – The queen of mystery. Every book is a page turner. Me and my sister used to spend hours reading her books and then discussing the plot amongst ourselves. Loved the way I used to believe an innocent person was suspect until I reached last 5-10 pages. And then the plot would turn around. Yet every angle would seem absolutely logical.

3. Sidney Sheldon – Another super story-teller. Romance, thrill, logic – you name it, you have it. His heroines reflect the epitome of female emotions.

4. Robin Cook – Sci-fi at its best. Fever, Coma, Mutation, Abduction. Love each one.

5. J. K. R. – My latest best. Each of her Harry Potter books was a hard-to-put-downer. The seventh was the masterpiece of the series. Have also read her “Tales of Beedle the Bard” and enjoyed it.

So that was my list… What about yours? Got any favorites in this section? Feel free to share… Happy reading

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Joint families – is the trend back?

My dad and mom were raised in a joint family. I grew up in nuclear. My kid is being raised in a join family. Are we coming full circle? Well, looks like to me…

Women have started taking up various roles in the corporate world to share the financial burden with their husbands. With the growing crime rate it is generally not considered safe to leave your house and kids to the mercy and care of maids or house-helps. Even if house-helps do ease a lot of burden on the lady of the house, it is always safe to have your family members, elders be in-charge while you are away. Therefore more and more people, specially young couples starting a new family are seeking help from elders. Co-families are also a common sight where two families co-exist in a symbiotic fashion – sharing chores, responsibilities and at times even financial stuff.

Some of the advantages for living a joint family that I see are:

a. Balance between house hold chores and office work for ladies. Symbiosis, what else?

b. Help with nurturing kids!

c. Help with finances. In most co-families, monthly expenditure is also shared. I have a friend in Bangalore who lives in a joint family of herself, her husband and kids along with her sister, sister’s husband and kids. They have devised a method for sharing monthly expenditure – supplies, rent and essentials for the whole family are budgeted from joint finance. Personal expenditure and the money spent on kids education etc is handled by individual families. Works well for both.

So what do you think? Are joint families the new “in” thing? How about the challenges of living in joint families?

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