On ‘doormat wives’ and ‘henpecked husbands’

From my childhood, my father used to and still does ridicule me saying "You will be one heck of a henpecked husband and would be a shame for all men in this word". I never paid any attention to that remark till few months ago. I have been thinking why would he say that?

Let me define what a henpecked husband is (according to me, anyways): A husband, who doesn't have high opinion of himself and "takes orders" from his wife on every matter. Would I do that? No, I am too independent and opinionated for being one. I for one, have been known to stand on my point literally in many debates. But, why would My father call me a henpecked one? I started exploring more and got no where, as always.

I was talking to my friend about this, lamenting that I how I am destined to be a henpecked husband, she laughed and went on her trademark extempore lecture on sociological, anthropological aspects of human relationships. She says Henpeckedness is not that bad as it seems, as any man who cares and respects his wife view point would be called henpecked. Makes sense, at least to me, where the society (at least Indian one, and may be not American one to a lesser extent) expects and calls the husband "the man of the house" and this statement says everything. He takes the decision, he has the final word. If dares to consult his wife in anything, that's it! He will be branded and paraded in the main street, With all cackling sounds and a chicken dance and all that jazz thrown in.

Coming to why my dad calls me one is, he thinks that I am a pansy around women and doesn't voice my opinion enough. I disgree though, may be women make more sense.

Coming to Doormat wives, which I think is very derogatory term by itself, I think women are to be blamed themselves. If a woman has sense of self-worth and self-esteem, she would never end up being a doormat. I grew up in a household with strong women and they know how to earn respect not only from their man but everyone in their household. Remember women, respect is never given, it's hard earned. This, I think is very cyclical process, women growing up in the shadow of strong women end up strong and make their daughters stronger and the cycle goes on. Personally, I can never stand a anyone who lacks confidence and can't carry themselves.

Well, I do have my chicken costume ready and I am certified by my dad that I can be pecked away to glory, any takers?

Eric Margolis, A Middle East expert?

He was on CBC news today talking with Peter Mansbridge as a Middle expert throwing his 2 cents on who ever cared to lsiten. After listening to what he said, I had a revelation that I too can be an expert on Mongolian culture, if I shout at top of my lungs claiming to be one, around the newspapers' offices.

This is what he said "There are elements in Washington and Israel who want to show who is the boss to Syria and Iran". Wow CBC, can we now officially call a conspiracy theory nut as an expert?

What are his credentials?

Quoting from Amithabh Mattoo's review of his book "Jihadi Journalese"

where his friends include the Pakistan intelligence chief, Lt. General Javed Nasser. His antics apparently provoked the Afghan government enough for President Najibullah to put a price on his head. Consider Margolis' colourful descriptions of the Mujhaideen: "These were the soldiers of Allah, the bravest men on earth... They feared no man and certainly not death. Each man believed that Allah stood at his right shoulder; Allah who was all-merciful, in spite of the cruel world that He had inexplicably created; Allah would carry him to his final rest as a parent would wrap a sleepy child in his arms and take him off to bed."

So a Hippie joining a Jihadi operation now be an expert on it? Doesn't the tag of expert come with the responsibility of being neutral? He is nothing but neutral, I found his another article which is very biased. This is what he has to say about the brutal Pakistani incursion into Indian Kashmir in spring of 2000.

Pakistan staged the operation to internationalize the Kashmir issue, which was fading into obscurity at a time when brutal Indian repression was threatening to extinguish the uprising

So, a brutal incursion into Indian Kashmir and killing in cold blood can be justified for bringing back an issue into the front pages? Should I go now and call Shenanigans?

CBC, couldn't you find anyone more competent that Mr. Margolis, who wears these really colourful glasses, which sure cloud his worldview?

Do listen to his justification on why Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers:

Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hussein Nasrallah, made clear his attacks were to support the embattled Palestinians in Gaza, who have been ravaged by Israeli air, land, and sea attacks after militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

Amazing sir, is this how friends help friends help in your world? Say if I were your friend and get into trouble by abusing drugs, you would support me by doing more drugs?

Why do we Canadians regard this advocate of violence as an expert on a region, whose main problem is senseless violence?

CBC, I always regarded you as one of the balanced sources of news and opinion, I am deeply disturbed by the fact that you had a partisan masquerading as a neutral authority. All I hope is that your programming mangers know his background.

RESTORE YOUR MANHOOD, Buy a Hummer!

I just saw a an ad buy Hummer where there is guy is waiting in line at a grocery store and He grows impatient. He looks up at a magazine rack and spots a picture of a Hummer. He leaves his groceries on the counter and races to his car, peeling out of the lot. Goes into a Hummer dealer, points to Hummer and the keys get tossed into his hand.
He drives away and the words on the screen -
"RESTORE YOUR MANHOOD"

What the fuck seriously? I always made fun of Humvee drivers of suffering from low self esteem (stemming from their small Penile Size Deficiency (PSD)) and compensating buy buying this monstrosity. Is my observation accurate then? Some psychologist verified it to be true and they made an ad just for these PSD sufferers.
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This ad is disturbing at so many levels, the first absurdity which bothers me is the notion of buying groceries to be "unmanly". Woah! so all the guys i see at the store are unmanly? I bet the women would be very please by calling the men who help them out as wussies?

I hate advertisements, but I like them paying for my Simpsons episodes, but they cravenly exploiting males with PSD to sell them gas guzzling monsters, there you have crossed the line my friend. Well, I don't hate all the advertisements, I liked the Adidas ads for the world cup. Here is the one which I liked the most:


Very realistically done! the best part is Jose is walking away with the ball as soon as him mum calls him, been there done that, albeit with the cricket bat!

An OP-ED ? In Indian express?

I was reading about the investigation into the 7/11 tragedy in Mumbai and I came across this OP-ED piece written by Saubhik Chakrabarti. Such pure drivel, never seen anything close calling itself op-ed piece in a national paper.

IndianExpress.com :: The 7/11 terrorists lived next door to me

I wasn't able to understand whether it was: satire, sarcasm, news, or just his opinion. Please let me know if this makes sense at all. If it does, I should go back and take basic English comprehension courses.

.... tasked with fixing dysfunctional ferrules. The men—the terrorists and not, I hasten to add, the DJB employees—are/were in Pakistan/Nepal/Bangladesh/Iran.

Are these our newspapers' standards? He doesn't even offer any insight in this very shoddily written piece. He says that he watched news (woah dude!) and felt intimidated by a channel's coverage 'cause it had six reporters reporting simultaneously. Is this suppose to be sarcasm? I thought I understood sarcasm till today, man I was wrong. Either he is 'sarcasm-challenged' or it's me who doesn't, most probably the later.

Questions like should reporters go on air with everything cops and spooks tell them?

Does this sentence mean anything? Did I forget my grammar ? Or is that Indian Express doesn't care anymore for what it prints? or did its editor doze off? Most probably, It's me who is at fault, I forgot my grammar.

I remember how our high school English teacher used to make us read Indian Express's editorial page everyday in its better days. Either Mr Chakraborthy was having a bad day, or Editor had better things to do.

Wait a second I dug deep into his archives as I found this article: "IndianExpress.com :: Subcontinental drift"

This is how the article starts:

Those European politicians have lost. Lakshmi Mittal has acquired Arcelor. Economic logic has trumped political irrationality. All in all, a great day. For the Europeans, that is. We shouldn’t even begin to celebrate.

That must be a record of most number of sentences packed in such a small real estate. Mr Chakrabarti wins. I lose. Indian Express is the best. I have a headache. Good for you.

Man! Indian Express needs better Op-Ed writers or better editors.