holding two jobs

i do, she does, she1 does, she2 does, she3 does... it is so common that we have stopped talking about it...

we are so used to multi-tasking (make it for an appointment, fix the lunch before going, pick up child on the way back, lay down the lunch, think about the headline for the next story, write 500 words while the child has her lunch, settle her evening studies, leave for an evening assignment... instruct the cook over phone)... that this is all in a day's work... and believe me, this is no big deal since, ever since the day i became a mother, i have been managing life this way... and i love it too...

now the story from the other side... way back in 1992, i was with a fortnightly magazine which had alternate weeks of heavy and light... Dad had come to Mumbai on work, and coincidentally, it was my heavy week... so B, who came home on his usual time, found that there was not enough food for three... and cooked... those days, we cooked equally well (or bad)... i came home to a meal laid out at 10 in the night... and there were smiles on both the most important men in my life... Dad because, he was assured of my choice of a life partner, B because he had been delighted to cook some recipe i had taught him...and in my next visit home, i heard about the great son-in-law that the family had, though none were responsible for this... while i was happy, i could not but help asking myself, why make such a great deal out of it?...

in 2008, today things haven't got any different... we still run around more since it is we have chosen to do it this way, not opting to be just home-makers (i would be the first home-breaker if i had been at home 24 hours!!)... the only difference that has not waned is when the man has to take turns and do something which is outside his work... he may be does it even willingly, but the people around him make it sound and look like a BIG, HUGE favour while he is just being human... get the point?