Has the time come?

For the last few weeks, I have been debating that endless debate in my mind...Is it time for me to finally get back to work? 

There have been multiple triggers for this debate - a sudden deluge of placement consultants sending linkedin requests, part-time jobs becoming available in the standard 'corporate' space, my friends getting back to work before I have even thought about it, the desire to make money again and the fact that my kid is now in 'big' school.

There are ofcourse pros and cons of both options but that just makes it harder to decide....there are so many positives of getting back:

• more money in the household - maybe we can finally afford a house in this maximum city (see how money figures as the top reason!)
• my mind will get that intellectual stimulation it so craves presently
• probably my self-confidence will get a boost....maybe its just me but when some of my old college friends ask me, "What are you doing these days?"...I am almost afraid to admit and say I am a full time wife and mother...
• my son will probably get less clingy and weepy if I am 3 minutes late in getting to his school for the sports day

But then again it is so hard to let go of habits formed over 4 years...getting back to work will probably mean:

• my house will no longer run on the clockwork precision that it does now...
• the freedom to step out and do things I want will go - after all you cannot visit an art exhibition during office hours...
• my son might get more clingy and weepy if I am 3 minutes late in getting to his school for the sports day - its hard to let go and hand over your baby to a nanny ....she clearly is not good enough for him !!

oh decisions decisions...doubt if it will be sorted in a hurry...

Role reversal

Last night, at our writers club there was an interesting discussion on role reversal - we had to visualise and write down a situation where traditional roles were reversed - maybe if the boss asks for a raise from the subordinate, husband takes over core domestic responsibilities etc...

Interestingly the first thing that came to my mind was the role reversal with my domestic help - maybe her threats to leave had left a deeper impact than I thought they would...the situation would probably be something like this...here goes:

Today when the maid came in through the door, I forgot to say "Namaste". That was the start of an awful day because nothing I did seemed correct to her and nothing I said sounded polite enough...When I got down to cooking she really took off on me. She pointed out that I had forgotten to add salt to the daal, when I made chappatis, she said I used too much flour, when I washed up the utensils, she said I used too much soap, when I washed the bottles, she said I used too little soap!

But the worst was yet to come. When my 4 year old was back from school, she noticed that as usual, I forgot to wash his hands properly. That really set her off...I got a 20 minute lecture on hygiene and health from her...

I do hope tomorrow is a better day and that my work satisfies her because I really want 2 days off this weekend and I dont want to do any housework and I know she is not going to like it. Gosh I do hate her sometimes ....

15 Years to perform poorly !

Read recently that as per the adminstrative "reforms" in light of the whole Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, the bureaucracy is finally being made accountable for its performance.

While the effort itself is laudable, but unlike the private sector where reviews are, at the minimum, annual and more often than not bi-annual, here the risk of losing your jobs arises only after 15 years of potential underperformance !!

Its truly unbelievable that the minimum number of years the government employees across IAS, IPS, IRS, Customs, excise et al have no accountability for the work that they do is 15 long years. While they would, I am sure (and hope), have annual reports and reviews of the work that they do, but unlike the private sector where it is pretty much 'move up' or 'move out' here it is 'move up' or 'move ON' to another year of mediocrity till finally 15 years later they might be held accountable...

Maybe the need for administrative reform would not have arisen in the first place had the accountability been measured regularly, goals set annually and most importantly political support provided timely and without any mal-intent...

Extra, extra, extra.....

The other day I had the chance to attend my son's class-moms lunch...now usually I am trying to escape these get togethers as most discussions revolve around the same children we have left behind at school or at home, or the nannies who take care of them - not exactly the intellectual stimulation I am looking for...

However, one does come away a lot wiser about what is the 'in' thing for your kids to do these days...the options are tremendous even for 4 year olds - cooking, football, western music, contemporary jazz, indian classical, mythology et al...

What happened to good old cycling, playing in the park, climbing trees and just plain and simple fun with no adult intervention or direct supervision...maybe its just me but there is a time and age for pushing your kids too far... call me old fashioned or maybe not competitive enough but sometimes it would be nice to just let kids be and figure out their interests and choices for themselves instead of thrusting too many activities upon them....