So I was sitting around feeling as redundant as the set squares in the geometry box.
Every exam time I buy two new Geometry boxes for the boys. Every single time they lose or break the scale, the compass, the protractor. Yet, every single time, without fail, what are left behind are two brand new, unscratched, gleaming triangles of plastic. I have been collecting these set squares in a tin box which had come with some cookies.
Today, that box refused to shut down. There were just too many of the triangles inside. No amount of shaking, poking, prodding was helping the purpose. My frustrated mind pulled out the dustbin from under the table ,"Let me get rid of these. They are of no use anyway." I thought. I couldn't come up with better use for them other than emergency scales.
Yet, somehow I couldn't throw these. I took them all out and arranged them slowly with their pointy edges non overlapping, in such a way that they found their niche in the box, and finally the lid shut down easily.
Job done, I sat around feeling as redundant as the set squares. Housework , kids, food , all had been handled hours back. Years of starting life early has seen me finish off daily chores quickly and go about my Job. The sabbatical now sees me trying to wrap my hours around the same work which took me minutes to finish.
I floated towards the kitchen to find comfort in food. Munching on my favourite chocolate cookies, I came back towards the dining table when my attention fell on a school document of the elder one. He had filled out his details on the form in his neat handwriting. After the blank for the Name, it said S/O or D/O and it was followed by another blank just enough to fit in the father's name.
Now most official forms either say ' Father's name' or ' Mother's Name' or this type of S/O , D/O followed by the blank.
In case of S/O D/O option, the most likely response is the father's name. We have grown up to accept this as the norm and I don't really see anything wrong with it. After all in a patriarchal system of nomenclature, we don our father's names. Identify with the paternal family's genealogy and hierarchy.
In case of S/O D/O option, the most likely response is the father's name. We have grown up to accept this as the norm and I don't really see anything wrong with it. After all in a patriarchal system of nomenclature, we don our father's names. Identify with the paternal family's genealogy and hierarchy.
So I kept looking at the small dash after the S/O and kept feeling even more like a set square in the geometry box of my son's official identity. Just as the thought floated around and tried to find roots in my head, I noticed the remarkable 'S/O Romit and Piyu Mukerji' filled out in my son's neat lettering. The words had been reduced in size to fit the small blank.
He may have done this thoughtfully or out of sheer habit , I am not sure which. But these cursive strokes of his lifted my spirits beyond the skies.
I wasn't a set square anymore. I was very much a scale, or a compass or a protractor....
The boys are being brought up right. That itself makes me feel important. Parenting boys properly is a sure shot way of moving towards a positive society which may someday learn to leave a longer dash after the S/O D/O.
The boys are being brought up right. That itself makes me feel important. Parenting boys properly is a sure shot way of moving towards a positive society which may someday learn to leave a longer dash after the S/O D/O.
