WITnessed : Untamed Africa...

(while Sneha was in South Africa)

Vikas : So hows it going in Africa? Do you actually have to go hunting every evening before dinner?
Sneha : No I don't need to hunt Vikas, I'm vegetarian... :P
Vikas : So then all the wild buffaloes must be pissed off with you!
Sneha : Why? I don't think they'd be offended that I'm not eating them Vikas...
Vikas : Of course not! They'll be pissed cos your eating their food!

Quick Links :
Erm... What exactly is "WITnessed"?
The full WITnessed series...

WITnessed : Now THAT's how you start a diet!

Sneha : I wanna lose some weight before I come to India in Jan ya!
Pratik : So do what I had told you earlier... Its so simple...
Sneha : Seema was telling me about her 5 hr diet...
Pratik : What a random diet... I don't get the 5 hr funda man!
Sneha : She was telling me something about insulin and hormones etc, but I kinda tuned out...
Pratik : lol...
Sneha : I was like just tell me what I need to do!
Pratik : Ok, forget her diet, I'll tell you what you need to do...
Sneha : Yup, please tell me! But hang on a second, let me get some more food first...

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WITnessed : Vegetables!

(A Brai is a typical South African barbecue)

Sneha : I dont know about Braiing your mushrooms and corn. Last time I gave the guy some chicken and still he was like "I don't brai vegetables".
Jo : Why!? Are you vegetarian!?
Pratik : Yup
Jo : Why are you vegetarian!?
Pratik : I like vegetables! : )
Jo : You know I eat vegetables too! I eat them whole... But I leave their wheelchairs alone - the rubber's too chewy for me.


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Quotes : The Ultimate Sin

"There is no sin, except stupidity."
- Oscar Wilde

What do you think? Comment on...

Quotes : Virtues and Vice Versa...

“It’s been my experience that folks with no vices have very few virtues.”
-Abraham Lincoln

What do you think? Comment on...

WITnessed : Inner Conflict...

The third moral from Why Parents Will Never Understand Their Kids... And Also Why Uncles and Aunts Will Always Be Cooler! is...

Avoid having kids of your own! Be the cool uncle... ; )

The second I wrote this third moral, I had a deep inner conflict...
The reptilian part of me hard wired to survive and replicate did not agree with this... Thankfully, the other parts of me stepped in to resolve the issue...

Reptilian Pratik : Conflict! Must replicate! Must have kids! Gotta pass on the awesome genes!
Shrewd Investor Pratik : Kids are a HUGE responsibility! Little rewards and sooo much risk! Bad investment!
Mediator Pratik : Hang on guys... There has got to be a better way... I'm sure we can find a win-win solution to this...
Player Pratik : How bout we find a few hot women who want to give birth to lil Pratiks, but have no objection to them being raised by their respective reliable husbands?
Politically Correct Pratik : By hot, we mean intelligent, smart, funny and beautiful women...
[Sow seeds only in the most fertile grounds!]
All Pratiks : Now there's a thought... ; )


Note: I'm kidding! But if you're a hot woman (as described above) and you're interested, feel free to send me an email along with a couple of recent photos of you... ; )

Quick Links :
Erm... What exactly is "WITnessed"?
The full WITnessed series...

Why Parents Will Never Understand Their Kids... And Also Why Uncles and Aunts Will Always Be Cooler!

When/if you have kids, you are going to be as unreasonable & overprotective with them as your parents have been with you...

"Better back home by 11:00!" (when you're 16)

"No you will not go riding your motorcycle with your pals all the way to Mahabaleshwar! [or substitute with the nearest hill station]"

"Forget your cricket team/rock band/girlfriend/boyfriend... and focus on your studies!"

"You are going to do Engineering and then an MBA! Forget Arts/Literature/Commerce! What job will you get!?"

"Be back home by 1:00!" (when you're older)

All of you must have heard such stuff from your parents... I know I did! My friends too.

We'd often wonder... "Why!? Why!? How can they not understand!? Why are they being soo worried/rigid/annoying/selfish/old fashioned/materialistic/unreasonable etc etc etc... Have they forgotten their young days? How can they not allow us to do XYZ when they themselves did such stuff in their days!"

And then on the other hand, everyone's got a cool uncle/aunt, who encourages you along your own personal path of madness... Uncle Cool actually "gets" you... He understands your aspirations even though he's from the same generation as your parents! He even has tips, tricks and anecdotes for you!

To add insult to injury, you see your Dad being super cool with your friends/cousins... and wonder why he can't be like that with you! Which, strangely, is the exact same complaint that your cousins/friends have about their parents - Uncle Cool and Aunt Hip.

I used to think - "Hmph... I guess thats just the way it is... But when/if I'll be a parent, I'm gonna be super cool!"
...till today when I was reading Paul Graham... He says...

The kids think their parents are "materialistic." Not necessarily. All parents tend to be more conservative for their kids than they would for themselves, simply because, as parents, they share risks more than rewards. If your eight year old son decides to climb a tall tree, or your teenage daughter decides to date the local bad boy, you won't get a share in the excitement, but if your son falls, or your daughter gets pregnant, you'll have to deal with the consequences.

AHA!

It's not that parents are selfish/unreasonable/materialistic/conservative/overprotective... They just do what makes sense, what anyone would do - balance risk and reward, pain and pleasure.

Their rewards...
They don't get the rewards of being out late partying, or of riding in formation on narrow roads that wind across hills and mountains, or being the college rockstar etc etc etc...
The only reward they get is the satisfaction that they're enabling their kids to experience life and do what they want...

Their risk...
If anything goes wrong, all of it! They have as much risk as you do, if not more.

What about the Uncle Cool and Aunt Hip!?
They get the same reward of enabling/encouraging you to do what you want, of passing on valuable lessons and insights etc... of living their dreams through you... and the satisfaction of being "cool"...
Their risk? Not zero, but not too much either...!

Moral(s) of the story :

1. Love your parents! They do a LOT for you! (Mamma, Papa, I love you!)

2. Understand that your parents are not unreasonable/overprotective etc etc... Whenever you want to do something, share more of the reward with them, and less of the risk. Whenever possible make the risk sound non existent..
; )

3. Avoid having kids of your own! Be the cool uncle... ; )

I've been kidding about this with my sisters for a while now...
"I'm not having kids... But you should have lots of kids... So that I can come over and totally spoil em! Buy them cool gifts, take them out on cool holidays, teach them cool stuff they're not supposed to know just yet etc... I'll be their cool uncle! : )"

[I just had a deep inner conflict...The reptilian part of me hard wired to survive and replicate does not agree with the third moral... Thankfully the other parts of me are stepping in to resolve the issue...]