Daddy cool....

Fathers will work in a  office, will market, fix the bicycle, mend the fan or may be mowing the grass, if necessary.  Where as mothers will be managing kitchen. Girls will obviously collaborate with mothers while boys with fathers! This have been the golden rule of families in India. In fact, this stereotype picture holds truth in other countries as well. Men will be men, wrote Rudyard Kipling, as unaccomodating as ever. So rearing children, most of them say, ".....is not my cup of tea." 

Do anyone ask the birth-giver , ie.the women that do they know or like that entire process of conceiving to rearing? No. Having a child means mother will render 70% service while father is supposed to do the left 30%. Father's will help , if they feel to do so. No compulsion, it depends on their wish. The process applied is trial and error method. Mothers too didn't have come to this world learning everything but they too grow as a mother along with the child. Biologically mothers are more attuned to child rearing as Nature too has more faith on her only. 

But things are changing.  Finland has started offering paternity leave.  Sanna Marin, youngest of PM in the world, granted paid paternity leave to fathers. This is applicable to all parents, whether biological or adoptive, to same sex couples, single parents who even can take the quota of two, i. e. of both the parents ! Each parent shall get 164 days of paid leave but they don't need to take it at the same time.  

Marin must be having  sublime thoughts in mind but till date women do the lion's share of household chores. This is true round the world.  If our concerned authority started thinking in the line with Marin, my question is that , are the men here prepared for that? Do they know what Paternity leave is all about? Actually, for men such chores are optional , for women like it or not-- it's compulsory.  They have to be an expert mother, come what may! 

Fine, finally paternity leave is here. That's actually a good news which promotes gender equality. Hope, this good-news for new or would- be father's will soon be there in Asia subcontinent too. 

More women have to work in days to come.  Men are opting for house- husband.  Naturally, discrimination regarding child-  rearing will soon be evaporated.  

Birds, birds....please stay.....don't leave us for doom.....


Birds are leaving us....may be forever! 

Let's say...we are killing them too and more than 50 species of birds are on fast diminishing spree in our country only. Some of them are on the verge of extinction. The sharp decline in the numbers of migratory birds is not only alarming but is very depressing for several reasons than one. First and foremost this disturbs the ecosystem brutally, beyond repair. Secondly, winter is not complete without the arrivals of migratory birds.

Uncontrolled urbanization, advancement in technology, raging pollution, unabated cutting down of trees, roaring population explosion, callousness of mass, collision with electricity, poaching for fun-hunting or for procuring meat, trapping for bird-trade are some of the glaring problems that are driving away birds to near ruination.

Fine, we don't have to think about birds but are we not worried about our own existence? In Bengali , it is said that even a mad person is aware of what is good for him! Then what's wrong with yet-to-be-mad people like us? We are still blind to gravest truths that may spell havoc on our ecological balance! Declining number of Vultures, large-billed leaf warbler, raptors is worrying. Some of them are very native to the Indian Sub-continent! We are not understanding that we need to be very protective about birds! They uplift our spirits. Winged-creatures once inspired men to build aeroplane and have been the source of our joy unlimited. From time immemorial, they have inspired poetry! Now, we have forgotten to raise hue and cry even after learning that an essentially quintessential bio-diversity spot Western Ghats , recently witnessed 78% loss of winged-population. 

Now, recently came to know about 18,000 carcasses of migratory birds had been discovered last year in Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan! O my God, isn't it scary? Where had been the green-revolutionaries? Where had been the chaotic politicians then? Actually, birds won't contribute to their vote-banks, isn't? So their plights don't hold any importance to them! Again, laws are there. But who would implement them with all earnestness? There will be no worth-mentioning punishment, even if someone is found to be involved in crime against birds like bird-trafficking!

Ornithologists have noticed dip in the numbers of avian species like the ferruginous pochard, gadwall, common coot and others for a while. On the other hand, rose-ringed parakeets, house-sparrows, common-tailorbirds, parrots have increased in number. But again there are news red-necked falcon, the Indian cuckoo and the blue-rock thrush have decreased in number. Actually, as long as there is demand for birds as pets or for their body-parts , no conservation will be effective. 

Again, birds are necessity but not meant for mere pleasure. When shall we realize that, after they will all cease to exist?  After all, Man is the most powerful creatures and expected to do justice to lesser ones. If we consider evolutionary pyramid, again Man stands out at the topmost position. He is out on uprooting others because remaining unaware or callous to the distress of other species is very unexpected of man. The creator might have thought otherwise, so is man all so efficient than those of other animals. But man has taken themselves to be deserving all best and giving little or none to their co-existing living-beings . 

We should not forget that being callous to the decreasing number of birds and migratory ones as well, we are killing our own prospects of living healthy life as soon disturbances in ecology will start spelling havoc. Again, Avian population is too innocent to understand their own danger. Man is putting them on peril, still they never forget to sing for them in Spring or in Autumn !

Since when we have become so heartless and so unromantic as to have lost sensibilities? Who will remind us of Spring when Cuckoos are fast disappearing? Again, who will keep our planets clean, if vultures keep facing steady disappearance? 

O God, Save Birds, Save Man.....

Swati Goswami Bose 

দক্ষিণেশ্বর মন্দিরে নতুন ১৬টি মূর্তি বসছে? কাদের? নতুন আকর্ষণ? New Attra...

Stop being a mother only

Let Love and Warmth be the ruler!


Daughters are daughters, always unaccommodating while mothers' are mothers, all but emotional fools. Ask any of the daughters today with conscious mother around, you will find hordes of them complaining against mother's being too pathetic with list of Do's and Don'ts up their sleeve. With gruesome news of crime against women, mothers now don't afford to be liberals. Their security actually takes away their sleep. When we were children, our mothers too had trying times in our upbringing. Number of problems they had were not less but definitely less complicated!

But today's teens,OMG, too grown-up, perhaps more than they should with powerful electronic gadgets in  hands which,
undoubtedly, mature them up much before their scheduled time. With information flying around--this had to be the reality. We all need to be tactical at home as well and actually we don't afford to lose our temper. You know,why? Our children are working a lot harder than us with their all-time vast syllabus. The peer-pressure too needs to be addressed. Job-market , in our time, had greater options for government job which ensures stability, less mental pressure. Now, contractual private jobs rule the roost! Social media too creates certain pressure.

How?'Someone is doing this, someone that and O, I am lagging behind', this kind of pangs do intrude their tender minds. One to one talks with your sweetheart work towards subsiding her mental agony of running with time in developing their careers, their academic field! Accept the fact, they are indeed, over-burdened children. 

Last but not the least, keep your household happy. Crumbled mind with heavy  curriculum does eat up their peace of mind as they only have to finish their syllabus, working late into nights. They have every  right to stay happy with warmth oozing out from every corner of your home. That helps...we mothers can only  be our daughter's facilitator, i.e. shoulder the greatest  responsibility of facilitating their unhindered growth, not only that of  body but mind as well. Academic growth and allied fields of development come out of sound mind. So that should be ensured first at all cost. 

Think in a different way, health of her mind should be the first priority, then the fitness of her body! If their Heart is taken care of more than their body, 80% of  war , called daughter-rearing, will be done then, that too  quite effortlessly! Remember, it is an era of  technology and that too teenage today starts from 10 years instead of 13. They are very aware of what happening around and so you are prone to all comparisons.  But , learn forgiving them even if you find your sweetheart improper in her behaviour.  If they shout, sometimes it's a flicker of burdened soul. Yes, heaviness of demanding curriculum does disturb their mental fabric ! In moments of calmness or when you will find her in happy mood, divulge your disappointment with her past rudeness.  If she shouts, we should not shout back. We will maintain our sanity in all situations  and shall consider first the reason behind her bitter mood . After all, we only can be a rock-solid support which they need for their progress. We will try not to be too preachy.....Remember, such sermonizing moms are not likeable ones.  

Now , if you ask me, why I wrote on daughters only,  I would say I know them well for having a loving one at home and for myself being a teacher in a girls' school, that too in a village.....I know them better! Village offers more story, more problems, that too of varied kinds.....

I will keep writing about my extended family I have there at my  school where I work...

Swati G Bose...

Story of KRISHNAKALI AMI I Experiment of Tagore I Best of Rabindranath ...