La Vie est Bien

Two weeks ago, we hosted a lovely newly wedded couple for dinner.. Among the many conversations we had was about how complex life can be when one needs to undertake a name change - an addition or an edit rather! He grew up believing that his name was spelt uniquely signified by birth certificate and many other subsequent documents cos his parents desired so.. (even though his name is a simple one! Hint - a famous comic character we all grew up watching) Imagine his dismay, when he finds out his mom addressed him with the common spelling, at least on the contact list on her cell phone!!! All those years of correcting people to add the right vowels at the right place and convincing them, there was a reason behind the complexity in thy name flashed before him as he threw up his arms in the air as his mom sat there giggling it seems! This was further accentuated with a saga of having his middle name noted in some documents, while it went missing (either by design or by default!) in ma

  Choose to Challenge It was sixty-one years ago, in 1960 when Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then called the ‘Dominion of Ceylon’). Forced into politics after her husband was mercilessly assassinated, Sirimavo led the young country for close to five years until 1965. Touted as the first woman leader in the modern world , she was succeeded by Indira Gandhi being elected as the Prime Minister of India in 1966, followed by women leaders from China, Israel, Argentina, Central African Republic taking up as the Head of State / Government in their respective countries. Of course, our generation grew up hearing stories about the infamous ‘Iron Lady’ who was elected as the Prime Minister of UK in 1979 who led for close to a dozen years! Fast forward to 2021, we have 24 women actively leading countries across the globe, and yet we waited unabatedly, fingers crossed for Kamala Harris be sworn-in as the FIRST Vice President of USA . Sat 9000 miles away,