Me Thinks

Monday, September 25, 2006

God is a He

I am pretty sure God is masculine. I am so used to using He and Him when I refer to Him and wondered whether I am being a sexist. But now I've come to the conclusion that He is He (masculine). How else do you explain the bias in his creation?

He created men with a few emotions and only one surfaces at a time. And women with tens of thousands of them and almost all of them come to the fore at the same time. And there are a million inner voices talking to the woman simultaneously.

This happened some years ago when I was a new bride. Mr. Me and I were having the badly cooked lunch that I had made. I was talking over the phone while eating. Both of us were done eating and I was still on the phone. So my husband took his plate and my plate and washed them both while I was still chatting with some friend. I exclaimed "Wow, what a man!" a la Abbas in Padayappa. I was surprised that he did the whole thing very matter-of-factly and didn't have that I-washed-your-plate-you-know look. All the voices inside me smiled generously.

A few months ago, we were having dinner, a good one, also by me.;-) I cooked, set the table, infact even served food for everyone at the table like a good wife of old tamil movies. Just as we were finishing dinner and I got up to wash my plate, my husband got a call. He was talking and was the last one to get up. By then I had even cleared the table. He finished his dinner and got up while talking. I said "Hello, your plate?" He took it and washed it as he was talking. Then all the voices in me woke up with a renewed vigour.

One of them said "Thats nice of you gentleman".
Then another said "Whats wrong with you? Washing his plate won't cost you much". Another said "well, you would've if he had asked".
And then another "Its not that you did something bad. You just said 'your plate'. Stop feeling guilty. Its not that you've never washed his plate before, you are tired today".
Another said "hello, the plate is washed now, whats this argument about?"
And another asked "He seems OK with it, why are you worried?".
Another one said "Maybe you can make it up tomorrow by washing his plate without him asking".
Then another one said "I am pretty sure the only voice in his head is thinking about the new laptop configuration and not this stupid plate" and finally my favourite voice said "Just SHUT UP and get a life."

God! Its nice being a woman but not easy.:-)

Monday, September 11, 2006

Dear Ashwin

Wherever you are, I hope you are reading this. I am 200% better now and you know why? I met your wife. My God! What a great influence you've had on her. I see you in her now. She is so strong and practical...just like you. I am so proud of her and I am sure you would be too. Ever second, every milli-second she proves how much she loves you. Not by crying or uttering "I miss him" but by remaining strong and going through this tough period like you would've wanted her to. I want to think you are still around. Everytime I say this aloud, I hear your voice "hey romba senti podadha" inside my head. You wouldn't want anyone to stay sad. Sure, everyone is gonna miss you and its not gonna be easy but all of us love you a lot and we are going to get through this in your style. But you help us through, Mister.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Oh God

I cried when you got this new job and moved out of the area in May. I obviously didn't want you to know. You would've made fun of me, like you have always, for being a chicken. Please do something, stop my tears. I just can't digest that you are gone forever! Give me the strength to see your wife, my best friend. Give me the strength to see her without you being around. If you are reading this from up there, get this. I MISS YOU ASHWIN. I am so scared to get back home now. I can't remember the days in the US before you got introduced in our lives. I can't delete your number from my cellphone. I want to cry but everyone is as devastated as I am, so I resort to writing this. I miss you.......