Is this the answer?

A child's education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)

Instinctively, I want to agree with this comment. Then I realise how unfair it is. This means that those with access to education will always be better off than those without. Well, for at least 2 generations at any rate. Which means that for India, if we can ensure 100% availability of primary education, it will still take 100 years before all our citizens will be more equal than they are today.

Interestingly, if we look at the rest of the world, is this theory borne out? Maybe the issue is what 'education' means. So - schooling doesn't always mean education. As endless research about the US has shown, several of their citizens (who've completed basic schooling) can't identify several US states on the map and know very little about the rest of the world. Their attitudes to other people and other countries is also not the greatest. So then, what is education? And does schooling equate at all?

Too much to think about...

Praying for Patience

One thing I've learnt about myself is that I do not tolerate incompetence at work. I become very curt, bordering on rude with people who do not do their job. In my defence, I give them a long rope, give them a lot of time to demonstrate their competence or otherwise. And once demonstrated, I find it hard to remain civil.

So I'm writing this post now, to drown out a few voices around me. Specifically the voice of one chap in a consulting role who self-confessedly doesn't do very cutting-edge work, but wants to do more. He has vision, but he has incomplete strategy. I think he doesn't listen very well. He hears what people are saying, but very rarely makes sense of it. I've worked with several people over the years and some of them are a joy to work with. They push you hard to be clear and consistent on what you're saying, but understand and supplement/complement. This is not one of those.

The intense irritation of a few seconds ago seems to have passed, so I was able to delete the vent that I had typed. I guess what really irritated me is that he was on a loud phone call, disregarding that there are other people around who probably have their own things to do. I've also grown a little intolerant of insensitive people. For instance, people who don't realise that their jokes aren't being appreciated and continue to make the smae jokes, again and again. Unfortnately, this chap is one of those as well.

I'll get used to it, I'll get used to having to think a lot more before I react... :) I'll grow up some more as well.

Mush

I've been reading several 'what my man has done for me' lists and thought I should do him some justice. I've vented several times about when he's let me down or not done what I wanted him to do or some such. Time to talk about what he does. Effortlessly.

I won't put down a list with numbers, because every day has something more/new. I think the biggest thing he does is to let me be me. He occasionally asks for things that I'm not completely comfortable with, but by and large, I don't have to watch what I say/eat/wear/cook/do. This is a great relief to me, but I guess I've known this all along. With SO, I get to have my own mind and opinions and even life. Of course, with this is the unconditional love. He may not like everything I say/eat/wear/do/cook, but he loves me anyway. I could argue that it's mutual, but that's not the point is it?

He takes care of me. In little ways, but still, much care. I only notice when he's not there that laundry piles up a lot and that I'm doing a lot more to keep the house clean and bills paid. He also does the little stuff, like buying things I like, only because I like them. The most recent of these was cocoa powder. He doesn't drink the stuff at all and in an attempt at frugality I bought Cadbury's. I much prefer the Hersheys, one box of Hershey's had gotten over and I didn't buy another because I had Cadbury's. He bought Hershey's and didn't tell me :) just so I'd be surprised when I drank milk one morning. It took me 3 weeks to find it, but turned to mush when I did.

He brings a lot of stability to 'us'. In my professional life, I come across as calm and unruffled. In my truly personal life, I'm not like that. I guess I've to work this one out. I don't lose it in times of crisis, but I'm not generally calm. I'm quick to anger and in my personal space, I'm vicious and take snap decisions. I've left shops because I wasn't served before someone else who came after me and stuff like that. SO's not like that, so when we're together, we wait a little longer before storming off. As a result, I'm a lot nicer and a lot less hot-headed. I still get angry easily, but I don't hurt myself because of it. I often hurt him though ;)

He's also taught me a lot about myself and taught me that it's ok to be completely different from what I am.

I guess I'm writing all this because I feel it now and want to remember this and more. I know that over the years there will be more. There will also be times when I think of all the times he didn't hold my hand or buy me flowers, and as long as I also remember cocoa, we're good.

More on RF

So... between Google and Wikipedia, no famous person has any privacy. I did some surfing about Roger Federer and I find he's quite awesome. He learnt when he was young, that he was too emotional in his playing - so now he holds off on the emotion, till he finishes the game. Imagine, a lion of industry admitting that before a huge win, he's not able to concentrate on what he's doing, because he's thinking of what he needs to say when he's done?

Not satisfied with knowing about the person, I looked up Mirka, the woman who's lucky enough to be married to this gem. I guess he's a normal person as well, who wakes up with bad breath and a rotten temper (though I don't believe it) but she's 3 years old than him! She used to play tennis but stopped in 2002. She's not stunningly beautiful and she's not very 'hot' but Roger loves her. Awww....

Roger Federer Rules!!

So, I worte a post about the great man last year, after he lost Wimbledon. And what a year this has been for him. Till recently, I didn't know that he hadn't won the French Open till this year. So last year, when he lost the French Open, he was upset, but when he lost Wimbledon, he was devastated.

This year, he won both - and is clearly over the moon. I'll tell you what I've seen this year. I've seen Roger Federer talk directly to his fans on Facebook. I've seen him depressed after the Australian Open and then ecstatic after the French.

I watched the Wimbledon finals and ... I was conflicted. I'm a Federer fan. Will always be because he's a fabulous player. But I felt quite bad for Roddick. He played well, played hard, and lost. Was he outclassed? I'd like to say so. Mainly because the final set went to 16-14. If he was not outclassed, he would have won it 7-5 or so. Could it have gone on longer? Certainly! Could Federer have lost? Certainly! But here's what I think makes him special - he didn't want to lose. He played some points badly, was on the verge of break of serve several times, but he always got out of it. He was calm, collected and cool. He played with the conviction that if Roddick had to win, he would have to comprehensively beat Federer. A single double fault wouldn't do. A bad passing shot wouldn't do. It would have to be a sold drubbing.

Will Federer be solidly drubbed? I'm sure he will, at some point. But for the time being, he's World No. 1 again, and all's right with his world.