opinions – Page 12 – Abhinav Bhatt

Desperate House-Husbands

Let’s directly talk about the Elephant in the room. Has anyone ever spared any thoughts about Husbands who are still stuck at homes while their wives go to office daily if the wives work in the Essential Services Industries (can have acronym Esi., but jobs aren’t that easy, of course)?

I doubt! House-Husbands (in these times specifically) are a rare breed. Most families where both Husbands and Wives went to the office are still Working from Home (how are people still tolerating each other is beyond me). Might have gotten rather used to it! Households, where wives were predominantly home-makers, are in a dilemma, whether to be happy that husbands are at home full time or be sad that husbands are at home full time. But, House-Husbands are not in large numbers, are they? They need to be appreciated for their efforts, isn’t it? But poor House-Husbands don’t know anything because they didn’t choose their lives to be this way. This just happened. Who can help them out? Who can put them out of their misery? Who can empower them and alleviate their pains? Nobody.

Charity Conundrum

About a decade ago, there was a certain period when I was unemployed and the level of frustrations was at an all-time high. There were very few jobs available and the future was unclear.

One day, I was in a market out for some chores. There I met a fakeer (not exactly a beggar, but someone who has taken up religious preaching as his job and asks for money from any passerby). He could somehow sense from my face my low levels of confidence and he stopped me. He asked me if I was feeling low. I don’t know why but I responded and nodded.

Ghoti

In Steven Pinker’s book, The Language Instinct, (How the Mind Creates Language), I came across this interestingly mentioned thing which had me in splits (figuratively):

“George Bernard Shaw complained that fish could just as sensibly be spelled ghoti (gh as in tough, o as in women, ti as in nation)—and that only institutional”.

English is indeed a phunny language. Next time you correct someone’s grammar, think again.

There’s never a free lunch

While the Internet and Tech World is an allegedly-free-buffet of delicacies, the number of choices we have, revolves around only a handful of flavors.

We are so much accustomed to fighting over Android and iOS, we haven’t realized that these are the only 2 choices we have today. We do have other choices, but they are so poorly marketed, that even trying them deliberately is like making all the effort to go to Antarctica and then getting disappointed to see no Gol-Gappa stall.

Starting Friction

Many, many, many people I know fret over 1000 things before starting what they want to do. This is for them.

So I recently watched: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Do you know which is the biggest superpower in the world? No, it’s not invisibility, or being all-powerful. But the biggest superpower there could be is the ability to speak what’s on your mind without any fear. If you could say what you were thinking without worrying about anything, then you are the most powerful being. And, of course, there are going to be repercussions and you might have to regret them later.

So, I recently (re)watched all 10 seasons of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and it is one of my favorite things on TV.

How to fix Toastmasters for 2020?

I’ve repeated this so many times and I would do it again: Toastmasters is a non-profit organization that helps people become better communicators and leaders. If you aspire to be a good leader, the first step would be to be a good communicator. Being a Toastmasters’ Member gives you ample opportunities to build confidence, become a better thinker, gain experience at public speaking, meet amazing people, take learnings from and give help to other people, and overall develop a good personality. The organization has been around for over 90 years (which proves that it works!) and has had lakhs of members who have benefited from its conducive environment which lets one grow better at their own pace. It has brought a lot of positivity for myself and I have renewed as a Member again in October 2020 after continuing to be a member since June 2016. Although I have renewed again, according to me, this is the toughest time ever for Toastmasters in this 90 years journey. I have continued to stay on but I am sure that we are going to witness an unprecedented number of drop-outs this season. I can list out 100 ways in which Toastmasters can be beneficial to people but in this post, I want to share my opinion on the current problems and possible ways to fix them, if I may.