Dear Readers,

Let’s face it. Us Bawas are an opinionated lot. We love our opinions but we love sharing our opinions even more! It is this love of opinionating that has seduced us into making digital and social media, which offer free-for-all platforms like Whatsapp and Facebook, a greater part of our lives than most things else. Communicating has now become 80% opinion and 20% information. Which is alright… provided our opinions are based on information – not others’ opinions! It’s very confusing, and it’s even more easier losing the real information amidst the melee of all the crazy messages pouring in, even at the slightest of any local, national or international occurrence!

So obsessed are some of us about getting a bite of the opinion-pie, that even if we don’t really have an opinion about an issue, we will merrily join in the barrage of ‘forwards’ – a word fast-gaining a bad, scary reputation. But opinionate we must. And we do. Take for instance the past week which has seen the country sharing divided opinions about the Government’s latest currency move – most economists are terming the ‘demonitization’ as a positive move in the long run. The opposition and a few others consider it more of a ‘demonizing’ of the economy. And I have over a thousand opinions and forwards on my Whatsapp from friends and acquaintances – most of whose comprehension of economics can, at best, be compared to Trump’s comprehension of ethics. And speaking of Trump, the US Presidential elections had my poor Whatsapp once again under siege! Numerous messages from crest-fallen friends –depressed about the outcome of the elections, sending me messages and forwards (of course) about what went wrong with the Hillary campaign, or horrified about the ‘Foreign policies’ that could be put in place by the new misogynist, racist President… but ask them about the essential difference between Democrats and Republicans and you get a look like you’re talking in Greek, with most not knowing their Sanders from their Pence! Which is also ok, as long as you remedy the lack of information – hit Google, not forwards! Figure out what it is we’re in mourning about, before firing off dozens of forwards, in the race to not miss out on sharing your opinion!

Looking forward, turns out bawis can be a bit sexist too… So, 9 out of 10 fellow Bawis reacted the exact same way when I asked them about how they planned on celebrating the 19th of November (today!). All ten asked, “What’s on 19th November?” “It’s International Men’s Day!” I quipped. Nine sniggered. The tenth looked at me like I’d voted for Trump!

So I discussed this with another close friend I dotingly call Kaju-Doll, a fab stand-up comic, and she said, “Do you realize why International Men’s Day is celebrated nearly eight months after Women’s Day in March? It’s coz when women asked them if they’d like to have a Day for themselves, it took them that long to respond!” “That’s not fair!” I told her, trying hard to suppress my own laughter. “She said OK – tell you what, let’s do something nice for our men this year! Let’s ask Google Maps to go off the grid for the whole of the 19th November, so that no one can force men to take directions! And we can get Whatsapp to disable all emoticons so that just for one day in the year men don’t have to fake emotions! And maybe we can even get Hallmark to introduce a new card especially made for the day, which will read the three most important and cherished words that every man wants to hear his woman say to him – ‘You Were Right!’” Don’t we just love such opinions???

Here’s wishing all our dear Bawa men-folk a very Happy Men’s Day! Here’s to a year full of happiness – but more significantly, here’s a secret to staying happy – keep your Bawis happy and your happiness (and survival) will be taken care of!

Have a fun weekend all!

-Anahita