Zen and the art of enjoying family bliss

I stood outside my daughter's school for a long time the day before yesterday, wondering how I had passed by the same place so many times in my youth, and never dreamt that I'd be waiting there someday on the sidewalk, amidst the noise and the milling crowd and traffic  with such quiet, glad anticipation in my heart. And this morning I have been pottering around the house with mop and brush and duster and cleaning fluid, sprucing up my Kolkata flat, while my wife was flitting around, talking to me about all sorts of things as she does too rarely, and I can't have enough of. And having long and fun conversations in between with favourite old girls and boys over the phone and face to face about everything from new college experiences to expanding tutorials to movies to the globally famous ongoing quarrel between the old economists Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati. It's cloudy and windy, the lush green rain-drenched vista from the balcony is as appealing as ever, and I have been having a grand vacation, despite the migraine, despite hardly going out of doors. Rab tussi great ho, as the Punjabis say: You have allowed me to know bliss with so little.

Oh, and playing the fool with the neighbour's dogs. Catching my breath after running around to grab them both together for the ten second photo op...

Helicopter moms

See why I love cartoons? This is one field where I still believe a single picture can be worth a thousand words...

I hear that such moms have become a dime a dozen even in the US of A, which used to be at the vanguard of personal liberty once, and where it was an article of faith that children ought to be allowed to grow up as fast as possible, and left as much as possible to their own devices for best results.

I take pride in thinking that in this all-important sphere, too, I have been able to follow the rule of the Golden Mean while bringing up my own daughter. I have not been an irresponsible and negligent parent, but I have avoided being a dirigiste dad also, I think. My daughter might confirm it.

'The Society of Mediocre Engineers'

This is an essay after my own heart, and Saptarshi has excelled himself. For the sake of comparison, you can look up the post titled 'Engineer or bust' on my bemused blog.

Saptarshi's latest

My young friend Saptarshi Moitra has written a post in the best tradition of whimsical writing. Look it up here. Thanks and congratulations, Saptarshi.

Readers who are really interested may visit my earlier posts titled 'Pretty good doctors' and 'Of noses and other profound things' (the search bar helps). Indeed, it won't hurt if they explore this blog a little more on their own, either...

Oh, and yes, I almost forgot: Happy Birthday, America!