Child Artists - Prodigies Or Fodder For Pedophiles?

There are a surfeit of reality programs/contests geared for kids on TV these days. There are also a number of kids who act/dance in TV serials and movies.

I have a few basic issues with child performers and their overall development as human beings, after being thrust into the limelight at a young age. But at the end of the day, their parents are their custodians should be taking care of the mental development of their children.

Coming to the singing and dancing contests, most of the judges do try to be gentle with the children, but some of them are quite rude and fancy themselves as the Indian answer to Simon Cowell. This is terrible for the self esteem of young children who have not yet developed the coping mechanisms of dealing with negative comments directed at them (especially on National TV)

A friend of mine in the advertising industry, told me of an audition they had called for, a week ago in Bombay. It was on a week day during school timings. More than 5000 parents turned up with their children. Obviously the company could not see them all on the same day. The parents whose children did not get a chance on Day 1 were prepared to come back every day of the next week and longer, if it meant getting their child a chance to audition. Not a chance to act, not a chance to be in a movie, but the chance to audition. They were willing to have their child miss school for over a week for a chance to audition for a silent role in an advertisement.

My mom would have turned down Karan Johar or Yash Chopra themselves, even if they had guaranteed me or my siblings a leading role in their upcoming movie, if it meant missing even half an hour of school.

Parents these days are trying to push their children into the limelight too soon. We do not have much data on grown up child stars in India. But look at Hollywood. With the exception of the Olsen twins (who also had their weight problems) which of the child stars has emerged as a balanced human being ?

In spite of all this background, my main issue is with the kind of performances that some of these children are being coerced into displaying here in India.

They are dancing to item number songs. 6-12 year olds dancing to the steps of Helen or even worse - Rakhi Sawant and her ilk. Rakhi is old enough and smart enough to know what kind of effect her jhatak mataks & clothes can have on the adult male population. What do these little ones know and why should they know it so early in their life?

Look at the kid in the "cutting-shutting" paint ad. She was memorable for being what a normal 7 year old child would be. So why is the media trying to con us into believing that 6 year olds are old enough to be dancing as vamps and item girls? Why are they sexualizing young children?

The US has a long history of child beauty pageants and an equally long history of pedophiles who follow the child beauty pageant circuits. Mental health experts almost all agree, that exposing young children to the sordid world behind the glamor is completely unhealthy for their well being. And the end result of making children dress, dance and act like adults makes them easier targets for pedophiles.

Agreed we do not have a well documented history of Indian pedophile cases. The only ones that make the news are when foreigners abuse children under the guise of orphanages or children's homes. But that does not mean that pedophilia doesn't exist in India.

The actions of these children is perfect fodder for the appetites of pedophiles. They even look obscene to the general public (I hope its to the general public and not just a minority of people like me)

So why are these children doing this? Is it pressure from parents or from the media to be all grown up and dance like a vamp? Or is it because the Shiamak Davar dance classes makes them seem OK? - His dances choreographed for children are reasonably age appropriate, but he sometimes has a couple of children dancing with the older members of the troupe and performing the same steps as the 20+ year old troupe members.

Fortunately Javed Jaffery tried to bring about a voice of sanity in an episode that I watched today of Sansui Boogie Woogie - he is the first Indian celebrity who I have heard talking about age appropriate steps. But he wasn't strong enough in condemning this practice. As the celebrity anchor on the biggest launch pad for dance talent in India, he could afford to be much more stronger on his disapproval of some of the steps.

I hope parents begin to see sense some time soon. They are always going to try to live out their own dreams through their children - that isn't going to change any time soon. But I do hope they stop turning their children into adults before their time.

Published on desicritics.org

BCA Chronicle - Quick Guide: Moving to Egypt

A Longer Version of this article is visible here.

Oasis - Online Education

Printed in This Month's CSA Magazine - OASIS visible online in plain text format at @ http://www.livinginegypt.org/Default.aspx?tabid=573

Online Education

By Karishma Pais (Kim)

Are you a trailing spouse? Have you followed your husband to Egypt because his job brought him here? Do you find you have a lot of time on your hands once your husband leaves to work, the driver takes the kids to school, the maid does the cleaning/cooking, and the gardener the gardening? Then maybe it’s the right time to get that degree you always wanted or research an area you have been interested in. Because lets face it, there’s no time like today, with the conveniences on an Expat life in Egypt, to get started in this direction.
The AUC has a School of Continuing Education (SCE) that allows you to take courses in subjects as diverse as Management and Education to English Language. The SCE provides certificate programs, non-credit term-length courses and variable-length customized courses to fulfill the continuing education needs of individuals and organizations in Egypt and the Middle East. Classes are held in the evenings twice or thrice a week in each 12 week term.
62.3% of the student population is male while 37.7% is female. 95.4% are Egyptians and 4.6% with other nationalities. The educational background of students is roughly split between secondary education (47.5%) and bachelor’s degrees (45.3%), with 7% of the population below secondary education level.
But if evening classroom sessions don’t fit into your schedule, you can always consider online education which is a type of distance learning.
Distance Education dates back to at least 1728 when an advertisement in the Boston Gazette advertised that Caleb Phillips- Teacher of the new method of Short Hand was seeking students for lessons to be sent weekly.
The University of London was the first university to offer distance learning degrees, establishing its External Program in 1858.
Electronic learning or eLearning is a term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. The worldwide e-learning industry is estimated to be worth over 38 billion pounds according to conservative estimates. Developments in internet and multimedia technologies are the basic enablers of e-learning.
In 2006, nearly 3.5 million students participated in on-line learning at institutions of higher education in the United States. The Sloan report, based on a poll of academic leaders, says that students generally appear to be at least as satisfied with their on-line classes as they are with traditional ones. According to the same report, about two-thirds of the largest institutions have fully online programs. Online education is rapidly increasing, and even online doctoral programs have been developed at leading research universities.
When choosing an Online Degree, what you need to watch out for is Accreditation, to ensure that the program provided by the institution meets acceptable levels of quality. In the area of online education, it is especially important to avoid diploma mills that offer fake degrees at a cost. If you are looking for a valid online degree, you should make sure you obtain proof of accreditation from a regional or national/specialized accrediting body. For example, the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) is recognized as the accrediting organization for online degrees in the USA.

How to get started:
Choose the area/topic that you are interested in studying/researching. (You could get a degree in almost anything: Archaeology, Art History, Alternative Medicine, a Teaching Degree, Law or even an MBA.)
Google for the website of the University/Institute you would like your degree from. You can start with this list if you like: http://www.elearners.com/colleges/index.asp

Then check if they offer a course to your liking.
If they do, sign up.
If they don’t, look for another institution or another course.
It’s truly that simple.

Costs vary across Universities and Courses depending on duration and topic. For instance UCLA offers a one week course in Writing for 125$ and a course on Principles of Accounting for 525$.

The good thing about online courses is that they are totally flexible.

• You decide which time of the day you plan to catch up on your course work: early morning, when the baby is napping or after you get back from work. Anyone can take these courses at any time.
• You don’t have to spend time or money on commuting to classes.
• Your geographic location is not a constraint.
• You set your own learning pace.

The potential drawbacks are that:

• You need to be self motivated to complete your work on time. It’s very easy to slack off when you are setting your own pace.
• There’s a lack of face to face interaction, everything is online in virtual classrooms. Auditory Learners may not be very comfortable with the visual medium of instruction.
• You miss out on the social aspects of classroom training and traditional classes.
• If your course requires practical sessions in laboratories, online learning is no substitute.

If after reading this article, you are considering online education, you can be assured that it will work well for you as long as you have reasonably good computer and internet skills and are self-motivated.

To get you started, here are some websites that will help guide you in the right direction with more specific information about courses.
http://www.exed.hbs.edu/
http://www.uclaextension.edu/
http://www.dmoz.org//Reference/Education/Distance_Learning/Online_Courses/
http://www.educationworld.com/OnlineDegree.shtml
http://www.elearners.com/
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/

Happy Learning!

Oasis Magazine, March 2008

2008 : Africa Cup of Nations

As I confessed last time, I'm not an avid sports person at all. Not even a spectator.

But with Egypt's recent win against Ghana in the semi finals of the 2008 Africa Cup and the celebrations that erupted all over the city 2 nights ago. I could remain ignorant no longer and had to brush up before the finals tomorrow. Because Football is all that this country is talking about right now.

Football is to Egypt what Cricket is to India. An insider tip in Cairo is that the best time to travel around the city is before the midday prayers on Friday, during Iftaar time in Ramadan and during a televised football match (when Egypt is playing another country or Al Ahli is playing Zamalek) This is when traffic on Cairo's otherwise congested roads is almost non-existent. The city looks like a ghost town.

Al Ahli and Zamalek are local clubs. More often than not it is the Al Ahli club that wins, but that doesn't distract the Zamalek loyalists. Matches between these 2 clubs are so fierce, that they are almost always officiated by foreign referees.

Coming to the Africa cup, its been held almost every alternate year since 1957 (making it older than the corresponding European championship). This year is the 26th edition. Winning this tournament is a big deal because the winner gets to represent the Confederation of African Football at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup which is a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Egypt has been a semi finalist 12 times thus far, but reached the finals just 50% of the time. So when Egypt won the semi finals against Ivory Coast (their co-finalist in 2006 Africa Cup of Nations) on the night of the 7th, the city turned 4-5 times noisier than usual. To those who have been in Cairo and thought it wasn't possible to get any noisier, I humbly invite you to be here during the finals and witness it for yourself.

Egypt is the nation that has won this cup the most number of times (5 of the 6 times that it has been in the finals) The other semi finals this year were between Ghana (host nation) and Cameroon - both 4 time winners of this cup.

The finals tomorrow will be between Egypt and Cameroon and the whole city is gearing up towards it. Flags are being sold on every street corner and major road (you might as well buy something patriotic when you are stuck in 3 hour traffic jams) Absenteeism will be at its highest tomorrow. If Egypt wins tomorrow, I don't even want to hazard a guess as to how long the celebrations will continue.

So if you are around during the finals, get home before the scoring starts and stay in no matter what the outcome because there will tons of people on the road post the match either celebrating or taking out their frustrations. Because whatever you may have heard: "It's not just a game!"

Published on desicritics.org

Kim is a Bonafide Cairene

.........According to the Daily News Egypt article by Peter Carrigan.

Peter writes a weekly column for the Daily News Egypt called "A Khwaga's Tale"

This week the extremely interesting topic he undertakes is a checklist to help you recognise if you are a Cairene.

& Kim's whazzupegypt blog has been mentioned in the article as having a "Hip Name"
although there's an extra "t" in the name, which is sad Kim because that could have been huge potential for more eyeballs.

The article in its entirety can be read here http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=11654

Thanks Peter, glad you like the blog & its name.

A KHAWAGA' STALE: You know you’re a Cairene when…

By Peter A. Carrigan
First Published: February 3, 2008

You know you are a Cairene when you leave the airport and sign your name as Donald Duck in that book administered by a lonesome policeman, who records your vehicle registration and destination.

I mean really, what is that register of vehicles leaving Cairo Airport all about? There must be hundreds of those dusty journals back at police HQ dating back to Agatha Christie. I wonder if she was the first to write down Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse.

So, are you a Cairene? Following is the Khawaga’s Tale’s check list to whether or not you can consider yourself truly immersed in Cairene culture.

You know you are a Cairene when you don’t care for haggling with taxis and just take the airport limousine service. Your bawwab pays for your ride when you arrive home and your luggage is brimming with pork products.

You know you are a Cairene when your phone rings in the cinema. You have a friend in Maadi who you’ve been meaning to call and you’re unsure whether Palestine is a State or a state of mind.

You have a delivery menu from your neighbourhood fuul and ta’amiyya spot. You have sushi home delivered for dinner parties and your morning coffee is also delivered on weekends, when you answer the door in your pyjamas.

You know you are a Cairene when you have eight random phone numbers of black & white taxis saved in your phone. You don’t know who Ahmed, Mustafa or Jane is, but you also have their phone numbers. And you have left a phone in a taxi, restaurant or on a felucca.

You are always busy when invited to Maadi for lunch or a genteel afternoon tea. You have attended more leaving parties than you have friends and you’ve been to Aswan, Luxor, Siwa and Dahab, but prefer Moon Beach.

You know you are a Cairene when you say you support Al-Ahly after realizing the Club is based in Zamalek, but feel you should be supporting Zamalek because that is where you live.

You always nod with authority when asked if you have read Max Rodenbeck, Robert Fisk or Noel Barber. You have two or three Arabic language books on your bookshelf, but spend most of your time weighing up whether or not to have both Showtime and Orbit.

You make an effort to go to historic Cairo and Khan Al-Khalili when you have visitors, but send your visitors off to the Pyramids by themselves.

You know you’re a Cairene when you have kissed a diplomat, fallen in love, fallen pregnant because there is something in the water here and fallen out at After 8.

You have a wallet full of unused bar tickets from the Canadian Club, BCA, Rugby Club and the British Embassy’s Phoenix club.

Reading Al-Ahram Weekly makes your head hurt, though you have heard it is more entertaining in French.

You know you are a Cairene because you wear shades inside, you think it is rude to be on time and you’ve finally realized that IBM is not a computer brand. You’ve stopped flicking the wing mirror in after parking as you’ve also realized that you never use it and you need constant noise to get to sleep.

You pine for the African Cup of Nations. You can’t remember that sailor’s name from Alexandria’s Spitfire bar and you have finally realized that you could never leave your cat and couldn’t afford quarantine anyway.

You write a blog with a hip name like; whatzzupegypt.blogspot, for expatriates.

You have started a cottage industry and gotten lost in the Mogamma.

You know you are a Cairene when you are wearing your blue jeans inside your knee high boots. You have one blow heater which you carry from room to room during January and you are wondering whether or not to join the exodus to Dubai.

Though, you realize you have been in Cairo too long because you remember your home country through rose tinted glasses; where politicians were honest, the streets clean and the service brilliant.

You have a thousand and one taxi stories. Your weekend starts on Wednesday night and you’ll never get used to going to work on Sundays. Your apartment has the ugliest chandelier in Cairo and your maid must have drunk that second bottle of gin!

And of course, you know you are a Cairene, because you never miss reading Khawaga’s Tale every Monday in Daily News Egypt.

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo was established by the Egyptian Government in 1835.

The present museum building at Tahrir Square near Downtown Cairo, was built in 1900 in the neo-classical style by the French Architect Marcel Dourgnon.

The museum pieces are scheduled to be shifted to a new venue closer to the Giza Pyramids as soon as the building is complete.

The current museum exhibits over 1,20,000 objects, some of the important groups of these objects are:

* Artifacts from the tombs of kings and members of the royal families of the Middle Kingdom found at Dahshur in 1894.

* The contents of the royal tombs of Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III and Horemheb and the tomb of Yuya and Thuya.

* Artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun, consisting of more than 3,500 Pieces, of which 1,700 objects are displayed in the museum (the rest are in storerooms)

Some of these objects can be viewed online on the museum website.

Entry to the museum is 50LE for tourists.
Students with ISIC cards can avail a 50% discount.

Entry to the mummy rooms (1st Floor) is an additional 100LE.

You get to see about 30 mummies of Pharaonic Royalty. These are split across 2 rooms at opposite wings. So do remember to visit the mummies in the opposite wing too. There is no prominent marking about the second room.

(If you aren't that serious about mummies but want to see at least one Egyptian mummy on your trip to Egypt, then the museum at Sakkara has one on display and entry to the museum is included in your entry ticket at Sakkara)

The museum is open from 9am to 5:45pm everyday.

Washrooms are reasonably clean, but better to carry your own kleenex.

Cameras aren't supposed to be used inside. Food can't be consumed inside. You can carry in water and small chocolates/nutrition bars. There is a left luggage counter outside the museum where you can leave your cameras and food stuff. This service is complementary.

There is a Cafeteria on the museum premises which is overpriced. The ticket that you buy for the day, allows you to go out on a break to eat lunch and return back on the same day. A better option for food is one of the many Koshary joints downtown, which are just across the road.

Avoid the tourist trap souvenir and book shops in and around the museum. Most of the books they sell are from the AUC Press which you can buy at source across the circle for less than 1/3rd the price.

Souvenirs you can get dirt cheap at the Khan el Khalili depending on your bargaining skills.

There are plenty of licensed guides available inside the museum in case you do not want to carry a guide book along with you. My personal favorite guide to navigate the museum is the Lonely Planet, Egypt. (Please note : Not Lonely Planet, Cairo) The Lonely Planet, Egypt succinctly and quickly captures the highlights of the museum in an orderly manner.

The exhibits are grouped in historical sequence. But to avoid museum fatigue, I would recommend visiting the Tutankhamun galleries on the first floor right in the beginning. The BBC Galleries have a lovely photo collection as a trailer of what to expect.

Then you can go back to the start of the First Floor or to the ground floor to finish up the rest of the museum.

If you are following a book guide, don't be worried if you can't find things exactly in the rooms were they are mentioned to be. Articles are often temporarily loaned out to other museums.

Browsing the museum could take anywhere between 1 hour to several weeks depending on interest levels. Hitting the highlights would take about 2 hours.

After the Pyramids of Giza, this is the second most visited site in Cairo and is definitely worth a visit.

Note : Summers can get very hot within the museum as only a few rooms like the Tutankhamun galleries and the mummy rooms are air-conditioned.

Published on desicritics.org

Christmas in Cairo

The Ashera - The Latest in Indulgence

After Uma's post on Vodka with a dash of Diamonds I was left wondering what the next flagrantly expensive "in" thing would be.

I seem to have found an answer of sorts. But this time, its Alive. Its the latest - Lifestyle Pets. Although its not as expensive as the vodka and it lasts longer!

These aren't your run of the mill pet cats.

Its the ASHERA (please note the name is trade-marked) The worlds rarest and most exotic domestic cat. (so they say)


The Ashera is priced at $22,000, plus any applicable sales taxes and is due at time of order. Generally, the delivery date from receipt of payment is 9-12 months. However, for those customers who simply can’t wait to own an Ashera, a few selected kittens are available earlier for an additional cost of $6,000. All Ashera kittens are provided with a Certificate of Authenticity that will include an image of each kitten's DNA “fingerprint”.

Wait, it gets better :
All Ashera kittens are hand delivered to their new owners and hand carried on the transporting aircraft by a Lifestyle Pets representative. Total cost of delivery within the United States is approximately $1,500; outside of the USA they will quote you by location.

Included with the purchase of your Ashera kitten are the following:
* Complete and updated vaccinations through delivery
* Mandatory spaying or neutering
* Microchip Identifier implant
* One year of premium veterinary health insurance through Pets Best (USA customers only)
* Airline certified electronic climate controlled cat transporter
* Veterinary Health Certificate (required for travel)
* One set of nail caps already applied (these are vinyl nail caps applied to your kitten's claws that effectively cover the claws so no damage occurs to furniture, etc.)
Starter Pack (includes premium kitten food, additional nail caps, cat toys and other kitten sundries)
* One year guarantee (see purchase agreement for terms and conditions)
* 10 Year consultation access to Dr. Roland Tripp, internationally recognized animal behaviorist.

What's so special about these cats you may ask : They have been (bred and genetically) developed by blending exotic bloodlines of the African Serval and the Asian Leopard cat with the domestic cat. The cat weighs upto 14 kilos they are specially bred to have Leopard spots on their body and stripes on their limbs.

As an additional service, they have even introduced a limited payment plan to facilitate the purchase of an ASHERA kitten.

My concerns :

What happens to the kittens that don't come out with their stripes and spots in the advertised places? People aren't going to pay 22,000$ for those!

Whatever they may claim, these cats are bred from wild felines. They grow upto the size of 14 kilos/30 pounds. How safe can it be to have them around, especially with children? Some may argue that they grow to the same size and weight of large breed dogs, but these cats have a much closer link to their leopard forefathers.

They are currently developing a new breed of a very small dog. Wonder how much that would cost!

You can sign up for their newsletter on the site. I have, I definitely wanna know, what's next! Simple curiosity, I'm re-discovering that from my own cat (she's a naturally conceived mixed breed)

Published on desicritics.org

Twenty20 - Reactions From a Non-cricket Watching Indian in Egypt

Nothing personal against cricket, but I don't watch sports ! (This is my first post where I've chosen "Sports" as the Section) Except gymnastics, ice skating and synchronized swimming.

Equally crazily, I am married to the ultimate cricket fanatic, who watches matches, repeats, highlights and replays on the news (that's all of them - not an either/or choice). Who remembers statistics from games I never knew were played. For eg. He just said "We have never lost to Pakistan in a world cup" OK, not a great example, but it needed repeating :)

Another of his gems just before the last ball "For a moment, I thought about the last time a Haryana bowler named Sharma had the last over against Pakistan in a final. New Sharma, New ending"

Now these nuances are lost on me, but I'm sure there is a large group out there who can appreciate them. (Like the employees of various MNCs in India who officially closed office at 4 P.M. today.)

Being away from India for the first time on a long posting, he quickly ensured that we got all the right technology installed at home for regular access to cricket matches.

There's a small population of desis in Cairo (about 500) and an even smaller subset of cricket "fan"atics. The previous matches in the last year went by without much community feeling and viewing in this country. But this 20/20 brought a large portion of the Indian community together.

A couple of rational reasons for this would be the shortened timings in offices due to Ramadan (offices close by 3, the matches started at 2 - Egypt time) and the BCA showing the matches on a big screen where desis could get together and watch the matches in a group with alcohol available to drown sorrows or celebrate victories.

The group did avoid meeting at the club on the day of the India-England match because of the larger number of British supporters. But they regretted doing that by the end of the match.

Many of the Indians met up at the BCA for the days the Indians were playing. The non cricket watching wives would sit around and watch each others husbands bemusedly, wondering which of them would make a bigger scene at a missed catch or a wide ball.

We were of course happy that the matches were shortened, it meant less time sitting around. But it also meant shorter, almost non existent ad breaks (except 2 very irritating Horlicks & Sensodyne ads on Ten Sports) to try and communicate with your cricket lover.

Some of them would sit in the same crazy position that they were in when the last 6 was hit or wear the same clothes/shoes to every match. All kinds of crazy stuff that only fans can indulge in.

This was a good opportunity for us to get together and celebrate being Indian outside of India. Yuvraj's 6 sixes was obviously the biggest highlight till today's match. He does deserve the quarter-million and its good to see the BCCI giving something back to the players.($2 million for the team)

We watched today's match at home, but the phone calls kept coming and going throughout the match from across the world. Reactions & moods of the husband were oscillating from wild elation to extreme dejection at each ball. The little bits of the match that I did watch, I found it difficult to keep track since I couldn't recognise more than half the players (I had completely lost track of cricket from the time the slide started, plus this team had tons of newcomers to the international field)

But it was good to see a young team selected and though they had their health problems, they kept at it. Their confidence and perseverance are to be commended & rewarded. The cup and the 40 lakhs each are just a beginning.

Dhoni from all the conversations I caught, more than proved himself as being an able captain willing to take risks (who else would play a complete newcomer as opening batsman in a world cup final?)

He also showed more class in taking his shirt off and giving it to that little kid (I didn't catch who the kid was) rather than waving it around :)

From the strange tie breaker at the last India Pakistan match to the 6 sixes, to the final world cup win, it was an amazing journey even to the part time spectator.

The final run around the field with the Indian flags was a "rungte kadhe hone wala" scene that would warm the cockles of any Indians heart.

Way to go Indian team. This is a victory to savor for a long time and I hope it paves the way for more new comers into the playing Indian team.

By the way, we did this without a coach !



Photo Credit : Cricinfo.com

Published on desicritics.org

The "Animal" Attraction - Why Do We Love Pets?

My personal love affair with pets began before the moment I was even conceived.

My nana (maternal grandmother, not grandpa in our part of the country) loves animals. In her younger days she nursed peacocks, deer and sundry other birds & animals back to health. The family household always comprised of a couple of cats, dogs, cows, goats, pigeons and various other species including a monkey at one point of time and a rat snake who would regularly appear to eat the pigeon or chicken eggs. All this was obviously long before the government started poking their noses into which species could or could not be allowed in family spaces.

Living a half day bullock-cart ride away from the nearest neighbours (while on the estates) made domesticating animals (for food and otherwise) a necessity.

By the time I came along, nana was pretty much restricting herself to dogs, cats, poultry and dairy animals. In most households, dogs were for guarding houses, cats were meant to keep the mice away. They were always fed a little below satiating point to keep them hungry enough to catch pests and scare away the people who had no business hovering around the gates.

Not in nana's house. Our cats & dogs were always overfed. So the dogs would sleep at the gate when they had to be guarding the compound and the cats would sleep in the attic when they were supposed to be catching mice ! All because she did not have the heart to leave them in the least bit hungry.

Nana's children - my mom, aunts and uncles - all absorbed this instant love for animals and most of her grandchildren were born to it. we were always surrounded by them and our dogs and cats were our friends too.

Even if the rest of the cousins ganged up against one, the dogs and cats would not take sides.

If you needed to cry away from anyone else's view, you could always take one of the dogs for a walk - who would silently lick your hands or cheeks (whichever was in closer proximity to their height)

If you wanted unconditional love - the dogs/cats provided that.

Non judgmental - bingo.

Non questioning - sure.

They know exactly when to come sit in your lap and when to give you an adoring look. As Dee elaborated about Zoey in Love, Grief, Pain, and a Kitten no matter how many times you push them away, they keep coming back to you.

They never judge you for anything - Feeding them late, not getting home in time, being pissed drunk, being lazy, being a few pounds overweight......

They will accompany you anywhere and everywhere where you let them and sometimes even if you don't. Our little munchkin (whom we adopted a couple of days ago) watches cricket with the husband. My husband is absolutely thrilled to have a cricket viewing partner in the same household.

They just keep coming back and give you more love. They insist on following you into the bathroom, but you don't mind since they aren't going to scrutinise your flabby thighs or beer belly. They just want to be around in your presence.

With a pet around you can never feel worthless. Because you are the world to them and they make it very evident to you.

How can you resist adoring eyes like these ?

Published on desicritics.org