Why is it so?

I have just been lazy! 

Ok, I did try to write a few times, but I couldn’t proceed beyond a few insipid lines! I think I was too far into believing that I was a cool writer type person – Thud! J

But you know, I have so many random things to ask and tell you’ll that I thought I’ll make one more attempt at writing and convey all these nonsensical things! Why should I suffer alone with these arbitrary thoughts J

So tell me, have you ever wondered how a white hair suddenly gets a lot of strength? I have a boring hair fall problem (There! I said it out on a public platform). Half the time I am worried about the amount of hair on the floor than the hair on my head. But I have never once seen a white hair on the floor. They seem to have some new found strength and vigor! Can anyone help me understand this!

Or try this extremely valid question posed to me by a 6 year old little boy in my building on the way to school (With immense hope): Aunty maine aaj subah potty nahi ki to mein school jaaun ya ghar pe hi rahu? (To make matters worse, his grandpa was accompanying him – and he seemed to expect an answer to this too).

Alternately, can you tell me how to decipher an Uber or Ola driver’s “Mein idhar hi to hun madam” when he comes to pick me up and is actually nowhere near my pick-up address! Is it mandatory to have extra-sensory powers while booking these cabs to know exactly where the driver is?

Or help me understand why every morning, milk and newspaper is delivered at 9 am, but on Sundays, it is promptly delivered at 7 am?

Also, does everyone finally get a seat in a train (after standing the whole time) just when the train is pulling up at their destination station or is this privilege unique just to me?

And finally, please tell me, Kattappa ne Baahubali ko kyun maara? This, even India wants to know! :) :)

Birds of a feather, flock together!

In our everyday lives, this idiom/proverb is so very true. Be it our friends, our favourite type of cousins or relatives, our acquaintances – we somehow end up being around or connecting with people who have something in common with us.

And with this confidence, I tell you, that I flock together (at an odd virtual level) with a lot of the weirdos of this world!

Take for instance, the case of a contractor who once came to my house for some renovation work and ended up cribbing to me “Auraton ko akkal kahan hoti hai madam” in reference to a squabble with his wife. He also coolly painted a wall pink – despite us telling him to use beige. When we tried to reason with him, he told us “Mujhe laga pink chahiye hoga” with no evidence whatsoever to support this feeling!

Or the case of my fabulous replacement maid – Vandana Maushi :)

Or that disgusted call centre employee who wanted to know “which credit card is holding you now madam”.

Or even a taxi driver who once overheard an entire conversation I had with my mom regarding buying a house and remarked quite confidently that I don’t look like I could afford a house in Bambai! [If you want to know his exact words – “Maidum, aap bambai mein ghar to nahi le paoge” – (Kyun Uncle) – “mein logon ko dekhte hi samajh jaata hun”]

Or,

The curious case of my regular electrician.

Mr Diaz. About 45 years old. He is unkempt, shabbily dressed and has only half a front tooth which makes him look permanently under pressure. But contrary to his outward image, he’s a very calm and cheerful person. His English is particularly engaging. Whenever I call him for some work, he always answers the phone with: “Hello, Now what happened?”

So on cue, one fine day, my geyser fell ill! Mr Diaz landed up, inspected the geyser and said “There is a problem with the geyser”. (He seemed to have forgotten that I had indeed called him to address a problem with the geyser). And then continued with “Geyser is gone”. And continued still further with “Your geyser ko repair is needed”.

By this time, already blown away by his phenomenal discovery, I had started to fumble with words. And before I found a few correct words, he started working his magic on the geyser. He sorted the geyser out; gave it the love it needed and it was back to heating up water like a pro! He took his fees (which is generally just ANY figure that pops up in his head – regardless of the actual quantum of work he puts in). And then he left saying “what this is, all times your electric problem happens”, accompanied with a long chuckle and a shaking of the head. Sigh.

A couple of weeks later I received a Whatsapp message from an unknown number - “Hi how geyser”

You know who it was from, right?  :) I didn’t reply. I didn’t want to start a Whatsapp messaging habit with him. He later called in the evening and asked me in a clearly annoyed voice “Why reply you didn’t do to my what up message that time” – I told him I don’t use Whatsapp much (Tee hee) and discussed how the geyser was working fine - “it will work only no after I repair it myself”.

The phone call got me thinking. I had very quickly, easily and coolly stereotyped Mr Diaz as someone who’d not know his ways with tech advancements, or have business skills like following up or even be someone who is open to trying new things. Yet, he had clearly stumped me with his ‘what up’ message.

And it’s then that it dawned! He’s like me. Of course we are not totally similar. But we both have our weird eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. And maybe that’s why I actually noted these exchanges and quirkiness. My husband too has been around mostly whenever Mr Diaz has come home. But he never seems to notice all these small minor things :)

And this is when the other thought hit me. Birds of the same feather flock together, don’t they? At some celestial or virtual or surreal level, all similar people within our immediate universe, somehow find a way to connect with each other, even if for a little while, in any way and add to the innumerable experiences that the world goes through :)  And it takes one to recognize the other ;)

I often get asked how I end up encountering weird people regularly in life. Well, I hope you've found your answer. I am weird. And so, I find a way to find other weirdos and together, we quirk up the world just a little bit more for you! :)

The Garden Court!

It was an open court. In a garden!

The pedestal had the judge’s elaborate chair and desk. On either side of the pedestal were the docks – one for the guilty and the other for witnesses. They were decorated with flowers and balloons.

It seemed strange at first – but then, I eased into this new setting.

The Judge looked really sad. He kept demanding for Tea and his helper kept giving him Juice. But the Judge didn’t seem to lose his cool, instead he patiently drank the juice at all times.

I was defending the guilty. His crime was that he had threatened his family members with dire consequences due to an alleged affair between his nephew and some girl. The guilty was a popular middle-aged actor from TV sitcoms. This actor threatened me too – “If you don’t win this case, you’ll pay for it”. Gulp!

The nephew and girl in consideration were sitting in the 'garden court' too. They seemed surprisingly at ease. They were sitting on the floor and sharing a tub of popcorn – without a single worry about the case. They were extremely friendly with me too indulging in a lot of small talk regarding the weather, recent movies, etc.

The court was packed with at least 100-120 people. They all seemed to be patiently waiting for proceedings to start. They didn’t even talk much. Some of them were knitting sweaters.

The girl’s family came by and sat behind me. I wondered why, though. Shouldn’t they be sitting next to their lawyer? I glanced around on the other side of the table and found my rival. She was my colleague from my work place. This was a surprise! How could the same company defend both parties? And why didn’t I know about this earlier? But good – maybe she could help me with a few sections to win this case. Ha!

And then suddenly, the strangest bit of this whole situation hit me…. I wasn’t a lawyer!
Terrible fear gripped me. I felt numb. I couldn’t feel my fingers. My eyes seemed to bulge out. How on earth am I going to fight this case, let alone win it!!! And I reached out for my water bottle. Water would surely help calm my nerves. I drank it all in one big gulp.

The actor came by with his big long glittering entourage and announced he’d be back after having breakfast. He left. I was appalled. How could he disrespect the Law and the Judge? But the others didn’t seem to mind. The judge ordered another cup of tea and got juice, the couple continued eating the popcorn, the relatives started cutting vegetables to save time and the crowd sat through patiently.

I thought I might as well eat something till my client returns. I opened the lunch box my mother had packed for me ever so lovingly. There was a single tomato in it. Huh?! Mom packed a tomato?? Well, what could I do?! I ate it anyway.

My mouth was stuffed with the tomato. The more I ate it, the more difficult it got for me to gulp it down. I couldn’t feel my tongue. I couldn’t breathe. My mouth was swollen. I felt like vomiting but I couldn’t. What was happening? I was gasping for breath. I looked around frantically for help but no one even seemed to notice my emergency.

But I heard someone calling out to me loudly and saying something to me. I kept looking around with the demonic tomato in my mouth. I couldn’t see anyone but the voice got louder every 2 minutes.

Suddenly, I could hear it all too well! Crystal clear!

“Wake up now. It’s already 8am. You are going to be terribly late for work today, sleepyhead!!!”

Evening Rendezvous!

The perils of being in a reflective mood are many.

First, you feel overly emotional and philosophical about everything. Second, you most often figure out it was your fault – whatever it was regarding :( . And thirdly, probably also the most deadly one, is that you start writing your blog post! Wink Wink :)

These days, what’s fiction and what’s real – is hard to tell. Real lives play out like movies. And the old debate of what influences what comes up again and again. But here’s a bit of fiction straight out of my laptop. Inspired by all the people I meet and experiences I have daily.

Every evening they met in the ground floor of their building. The seats on which they sat were made of cement – partly worn out and broken from one end. But there was enough for the two of them to sit comfortably.

It was a daily routine. They had followed it for over 50 years. Ever since they were new brides in their respective houses.  The only breaks were if either of them had travelled out of the city or if they fell ill. But otherwise, they met daily. 

They weren’t even the best of friends. May be it was force of habit. Or maybe they felt the other needed it more than themselves. Whatever the reason – they were daily evening companions.

These were two strong-minded yet frail 90 year old ladies! Both were typical south Indians – TamBrahms.

Earlier, for bulk of their years, they spoke about what they cooked, what they washed, what they ate, what their in-laws said, what their children did and what was going to be their next pickle.  They would share food items once in a while or exchange ever-silver dabbas with each other with murrukkus and mixtures (South Indian savory items).

But off late, their conversations were mostly about whether they could pee the requisite amount and number of times through the night and day; whether they were able to digest the slightly heavy meal of rasam, curd, rice and veggie; whether they were able to read the headlines clearly or had to wear their spectacles.

They kept each other engaged. Apart from the daily meals, a few latrine related issues and medicine replenishments, their point of incongruence was that neither could hear each other!! Yeah – they both couldn’t hear well. Came with age!  But that didn’t stop them from meeting daily and talking to their heart’s content. It was their thing to do daily. They looked forward to it. It was something that kept them going.

So, every evening, they met at their scheduled time on the broken seats and spoke endlessly.

Old aunty1 (Oa1): What did you eat today?

Old aunty2 (Oa2): Did you eat today?

Oa1: We had rasam, rice and potato curry.

Oa2: Yes, it’s a hot day!

Oa1: It is so hot today. How do you manage without AC in your hall.

Oa2: I had curd rice only today – stomach is a bit upset. What medicine did you take last time – you said it helped you.

Oa1: Today no motion. It’s stuck.

Oa2: Ohhh! Gelusil-aa. That never works for me.

Oa1: Did you hear about that Kumuda mami in our next building – she is going to USA this year. How did they give an 80 year old a visa, beats me. Puriyave illai (Just don’t understand it).

Oa2: Did you take digene tablet or Gelusil syrup?

Oa1: Yes! She’s travelling with her grandson. Wonder how he is going to travel with her. Ha ha!

Oa2: Don’t laugh at my predicament, ma! Loosaave varadu (Totally loose motions).

Oa1: Ha ha. That’s cruel. Hopefully she won’t suffer loose motions in her long flight.

Oa2: Did you hear about Kumuda Mami? She is going to the USA.

Oa1: Apparently, Onions have become Rs. 70/- per kilo. Luckily we don’t use too much onion in our food.

Oa2: No, not Rs. 20, Onions have become Rs. 70/-.

Oa1: What! Why did you buy 20 kgs?

Oa2: Thank god we don’t eat onions at all.

Oa1: I don’t understand what is the need for so much – you any way don’t eat onions!

Oa2: Let’s go – it’s becoming dark.

Oa1: Let’s go – it’s becoming dark.

Oa2: See you tomorrow ma. Hopefully my stomach will become better. I will tell you about Kumuda Mami in detail tomorrow.

Oa1: See you tomorrow. I am glad you had no loose motions today! Take care ok.

And they’d go back to their homes slowly, with measured steps and hawk type concentration on the floor watching their each step :)

They were always happy at the end of their meetings. They continued to do this till one day when both left the earth together. May be even God couldn’t obstruct their evening meetings  :)

As the next day dawned and the evening came by, the seats wondered with a tear who’d talk to them daily. That deliberation didn’t last too long. Two recently married, young girls in the building sat on the seat on their ways back from their jobs to catch a few breaths before getting busy with home duties.

Young lady1 (Yl1): Hey! Which floor?

Young lady2 (Yl2): 4^th, You?

Yl1: I’m on the 9^th! Do you come daily at this time?

Yl2: Yes – the same local train daily gets me here at this time.

Yl1: Wow! Me too! Good! See you tomorrow too at this time :)

Yl2: Yes! Looking forward already!! :)

And the seats smiled again.

My Dear Consultant!

A career in consulting means a lot of things. Great minds come together, strategize and derive absolutely creative answers to some of the toughest questions of the corporate world. There’s a lot to learn and understand and you also get a chance to see how varied, unpredictable, interesting and absolutely intriguing human psychology is.

It’s a lot of glamour too – what with fancy travelling, staying in great hotels on out-station trips, monthly get-togethers with teams at awesome restaurants, lots of money (well, debatable ;)) and the likes. It also means being stupidly competitive, working long hours, sometimes forgetting a week has two weekend days, missing a few special family events, etc.

I have had the good fortune of meeting and knowing many many amazing consulting professionals. Let me share with you, the story of one such awesome individual.

This someone is a young, intelligent, recently married (to a joint family!) girl and has had her life go from carefree to terribly careful. Her dressing has undergone a total change from aaj ki naari to bahurani. Her lunch box has moved from salads and pastas to dal, roti and rice. From pub hopping over weekends she has started hopping from one relative’s place to another. On the whole – the transformation has been quite drastic. Whether it’s good or bad, is really our personal view and perception.

So earlier, she used to be this big-shot consultant, who was passionate about her job, always staffed on all the star projects, did quite well for herself, and was always available to take on work – she was someone who worked hard and partied harder! But now, it was different. She had restrictions on how long she could stay in office, her travel schedule had to be planned keeping in mind all her family and social commitments, she would not be able to answer calls over the weekends and she was totally not available for the team get-togethers!

She became more and more tired managing both ends of her life.

Her colleagues began to distance themselves from her. They would object on having her staffed on their projects because they would think she won’t do her job well, given her constraints and they’d get more work and so she started losing out on meaty projects, that plum promotion and the rightful yearly bonus.

And the last nail in the coffin was that the general view about her, went from “Wow, what an amazing consultant” to “If she has so many restrictions, why is she still in consulting. Obviously she can’t handle it”.

How she felt about this, I am not sure. We weren’t that close. But really?! Just because a young girl has some constraints, her hard earned credibility as a consultant itself is suddenly in doubt?

Yes, she has constraints. Yes, she’s struggling at times to manage everything. Yes, she wants to leave early. And yes, she can’t work weekends. But so what? When she’s doing her bit in the project, she does it with 100% sincerity. She’s bringing to the table a fresh perspective on the problem at hand. She’s giving you her professional opinion, which till some time back, was highly sought.

Organizations are trying their best to address these issues. I have personally benefited from a few such options – like a part-time association, or flexi-hours, etc. But how far do these really go?

And this is just the start. The next set of troubles for my friend will begin, when she and her husband decide to have a family. That’ll be it then. She’ll be totally written off.

Isn’t that sad? I know of lot of wonderful organizations who are consistently introducing measures and ideas and options to support the woman. To help her have a career despite issues and constraints she has. I know of families, who have gone out of their way to ensure that the daughter-in-law can continue to have a career. I know of amazing husbands who stand tall in support of their wives’ pursuit of a career.

However, the number of girls like my friend here are far more than the luckier ones. And then in such cases, I just want to know one thing: If everyone is such a great consultant, how come no one has a sure shot answer to this one? How come no team says “Bring her on board, her opinion is far more important to me than the number of hours she can put in making those slides”. How come no one says “I’ll cover for you when you have to work at home”.

My husband argued with me endlessly on this. He gave me many arguments and also told me that he knows of many women who take advantage of such constraints and end up earning the same salary as their male counter-parts for half the work done. I am sure most men will agree with this argument. And I agree too that there will always be a set of people who tilt the scale to the other side.

But here’s the deal. You don’t have to manage the constraints forever. She needs time initially to adjust and find an equilibrium in her new life. She’s genetically a multi-tasker and she will easily come to it. And if she doesn’t; then there’s nothing any one can do about it. But mostly, she just needs time. 

And for just this much – can’t YOU be the solution to the problem, my dear consultant?

The Replacement Cook!

I had a replacement cook a few days ago. My full time cook was on a "going-to-village" holiday for 20 WHOLE DAYS with her family. So, with great difficult I found someone who agreed to come at a time convenient for us.

So, here's Vandana Maushi - The Replacement Cook! Forty some-thing, about 4 feet tall, stick thin, wears the biggest glasses available on earth, has a short crop and is in a foul mood at all times. We decided that she'd come daily at 7.15 am to help me pack lunch for my husband.

But not for a single day did she arrive before 8.30 am. That's not all, despite being so late, she'd walk in with an air of arrogance and attitude. If I so much as mustered up the courage and asked her why she was late, she'd reply with utmost disgust that she's not used to waking up so early AND that I shouldn't do "itna kit-kit"! Hmmmmm!!

She definitely acted like she was doing me a huge favour and that I should be indebted to her and obliged to do as she wants. Maybe she was right, but I'm also paying her salary (and not a small amount) for this adjustment that she's making for me and I do expect her to work well at least as much as the worth of the salary. But this logic was lost on her.

She expected me to cut vegetables and keep them ready for her to come and turn it into a curry.

She despised making the Rotis - "aaj phir se roti banaane ka? chaawal nahi khaate kya".

She would never follow instructions:
Maushi, Bhindi ko lamba lamba kaatna - you'll find them cut into small round pieces!
Kadhi mein tamatar mat daalna - the kadhi would have tomatoes!
Moong daal banaana - You'd be eating Toor Dal!
She wouldn't put coriander on veggies and dal - "aap daalo na itna hai to"!

She liked cucumbers - many times I caught her brazenly eating them from MY fridge!

She had told me that she will have Tea daily as soon as she finishes her work. This was her condition while we were discussing 'joining terms'! But on most days, she wouldn't wait till work was done to have her tea. Many a times, she would even command "Maajhya chahaa saathi paani theva" (boil water for my tea). The Tea would be made with more milk and less water, 2 spoonfuls of Tea powder and FOUR spoons sugar - surely uninitiated to the concept of diabetes!! Even the style in which she had the Tea was amusing. She'd have the fan on full speed, lean lazily on the washing machine at one end of the kitchen and very very leisurely, sip on the Tea - what with all the sipping noises too. She just should NOT be disturbed during Tea time. She'd transform into a demon!

But things got to a head. She was way too arrogant for the work she did and didn't do it right when did do some work. She also didn't really do much work - I ended up doing most of it so that food would be ready on time. So I decided to have a candid conversation with her. I walked into the kitchen to take the bull by it's horns. As luck would have it, she was in the middle of her Tea session - Yikes!! So I told her, in the softest voice I could physically come up with - that she needs to start coming on time and to make food as instructed. Her reaction took me by shock - not even surprise. She smiled - and continued sipping tea. I was thinking maybe she's totally intoxicated by the tea and things I said haven't registered in her mind. So I waited for 2 minutes before asking her if she was ok with what I said. She smiled. Again. But this time she also said "Ghaabru naka - mee karin" (Don't worry, I'll do it). I don't know if that assured me or scared me more. But I decided to take things at face value and left.

Next morning, she didn't turn up. I wasn't surprised. I was half expecting that. So I called her on her mobile several times - it rang endlessly. I gave up and did whatever work had to be done for that day. She didn't turn up for any of the days after that. But I still kept calling her mobile.
No! I wasn't calling her to ask her to come to work. But for what it's worth, we did eat the food she cooked for us and that did take us through some uncomfortable, hot days with happiness and satisfaction. I owed her the salary for the days she did come and cook. I wanted to give it to her and hence, I kept calling. But she wouldn't answer.

She was smart ! She knew her salary was safe. She also knew by when my full time cook was expected to return. She must have thought that if she answered my call before the designated return date of my full timer, she may just be forced to work. So coolly, she hoped to stay away from me till then.

I had given up. And I went on with my daily routine. I was counting down to when my cook would return and I'd go back to living life in all it's glory.

And then one morning, I stepped out to buy stuff from the market. It was terribly hot. Moods were flaring. Taxis, buses and cars were honking incessantly on the roads. And I was making my way amidst all this. And suddenly, I spotted her. There she was! Vandana Maushi! Munching away on cucumbers coolly in the middle of all the chaos. Without even thinking, I ran towards her and asked her why she didn't come to work or why she hadn't returned my calls. She stopped munching, looked at me for a second and then said, in her trade-mark disgust "Kaakdi khaate, Nantar kadhitari boluya" (I'm eating cucumbers, we shall talk later sometime). Then she went back to munching the cucumbers and looked through me like I was invisible.

I got it. I looked around to see if anyone else had witnessed this royal insult. And turned around and walked away as fast I could from there. I contemplated turning around and giving her the salary - but guts and courage had betrayed me by then. I sprinted away from there.

She did come by that evening to take her salary. She was extremely friendly. She didn't argue much with the adjusted amount I handed to her. She even smiled..... I think....
She seemed to have forgotten what she really had done. She even tried small talk with me about the price of lemons being very high. The fact that I was being rude and curt with her didn't bother her much. I was trying to end the conversation and signal her to leave - but she stayed put.

And then, just when I was wondering what kept her stuck to the chair despite receiving the monies, she demanded - "Ek cup Chahaa dyaa" !!!

The journey to the weekend!

Earlier, When I worked with one of the Big 4 companies, I lived my life from one weekend to another. What happened in the interim is really not worth discussing. Thank goodness, it was a 5-day working thing.

So every Monday morning, I would motivate myself with "Friday is just 4 days away". There was some thing magical about Friday evenings; Even if I knew I had to work over the weekend, Friday evening was like my Fairy God Mother! So much promise!!!

I would feel exceptionally optimistic the whole day. Post 4 pm, my brain would slowly start wrapping up for the day. One by one the PPT and EXCEL sheets would be closed and private messages to friends and colleagues would increase with "Kya plan weekend ka :-)"

And by 5.30, I'd only be waiting for it to be 6, when I could fly out of the door and walk straight into 2 days of freedom. No looking back .... Especially at that one Manager who had the perfect recipe to spoil a well planned weekend with truckloads of work.

And those lovely lovely plans that I'd make for the weekend ...... Ah ... I will sleep a lot, I will clean my cupboard, I will watch too much TV, I'll eat oily fried feel-good food, I'll meet my parents, I'll play poker, I'll go the parlour, I will go shopping, Heck!! I'll even go on a healthy walk around the garden! Yes!! Feeling pumped, I'd head home with a brighter than ever smile on every Friday evening! Please note that all these plans were for Saturday and Sunday. Because, Friday evening was to just ... Be :-)

Come Saturday morning, the sheer optimism of these plans would hit me. Sab kuch to nahi ho paayega! So then I'd start rationalizing them. The constant sufferers of the rationalization were cupboard cleaning and the healthy walk. They have to wait till the elusive 'next weekend'. 

I'd somehow manage to cram most of the other plans quite satisfactorily over the whole of Saturday and half of Sunday. And then, just as the Fairy God Mother would regularly introduce me to weekends on Friday, the Devil Incarnate would introduce me to the prospect of a Monday being just a few hours away, on the Sunday evening.

Now, If there was any thing I found more terrifying than a Monday morning, it was Sunday late evening. I can't explain it - but it would me so sad, that I would just sit and waste it over gloomy thoughts for the whole of the coming week. Shit yaar, bohot kaam hai... xyz report bhejni hai, abc proposal banaani hai, oh nooo, tax documents bhi submit karne hai, blah blah blah and more such blah. It would take the optimism out of me. I'd be filled with philosophical thoughts like why do we have to work if we aren't happy, we should only do things that make us happy. Sometimes I'd even try to convince the hubby that we don't need to run in the race like this and we should just retire and be happy with whatever we have or may be open a grocery store in a small town and sit at the cash counter and be lazy! (Yeah - I find the stressful grocery store idea very contrary to that for some reason!) Sigh!

I thought, this would all change when I decided to give up the big moolah-making, peace-defying job I had. I settled for some thing much more relaxing; free-lancing! It gave me a lot of time on hand. I met my parents more often, caught up with friends that I hadn't seen for a very long time, slept a lot, took up new hobbies and basically had a very nice time........ Till, the weekend bug caught up with me again.

Now, my weekends are intertwined with my hubby's weekends! So I go through the same emotions that I did earlier from the wonderful Friday, to the euphoric Saturday, to the upsetting Sunday evening and the ever manic Monday.

That's when I realized, that unless, we have a job that we are passionate about or we do some thing that impacts or affects people's lives positively, we will only be running from one Friday evening to the next. We seem to find our mundane jobs so dissatisfying and below our creative ability, that we don't find happiness in those 5 days at work. We seek more from the weekend than it can offer. But had we found an area in our lives that helped us make a wonderful difference to the world (and also got paid well for it), I think we'd be sorted!!

And here's a BIG CLAP to all those who do, in fact, find even Monday till Friday just as endearing as the Friday till Sunday journey :-) May your tribe increase :-)

So as I wind up the post, backed with my trademark Sunday evening mighty philosophy, Cheers...!! Till we meet again on some Happy Friday evening :-) :-)