comedy all around

ok.. i established something yester night. ginseng is not meant for boosting memory!! it is acknowledged for keeping your energy levels up. that makes sense now!! apparently, the magic cure for short term memory loss is another funky japan-ko nonsense by the name gingko biloba. the local chinese doctor plomises me that gingko is vely vely good for my memoly. so, i must give it a try.

monica got news from our HR regarding maternity leave. seemingly she gets paid 90.2% of her weekly salary for 15 weeks and on top a government regulated value for the subsequent 20 weeks. this is not bad as i was ok with monica parking herself at home from september onwards. besides she has 4 working weeks of holiday entitlement that she can avail before the end of december. so, she can rest and be out of work for 39 weeks and still get paid for that!! all in all this is good for her and for me, financially.

paternity leave? the HR has no bloody idea since this company has never employed a "father to be" until now. but the hearsay is, i get one week off for my hard work. goodie!! i have lived in so many countries – india, usa, australia, singapore and now the uk. this country by far presents the best civil liberties i can think off. the health service is fantastic although a local would be more critical of my contention. we need not pay for anything - even if we need a brain tumor removed!! dependants have more flexible work rights than even the permit holder. the maternity & paternity earnings actually come from the government and not from the company!! the list can go on for ever. but this country also taxes the most i guess. i & monica together pay tax well in excess of US $3300 per month. on top of this you have indirect taxes – council tax, value added tax [similar to GST], pissing tax, shiting tax etc. etc. adding up to another few hundred US dollars a month. but no worries on that subject really. the past 5 years undoubtedly have been the best years for me. i owe it all to england.

coming back to baby names from yesterday, monica's thinking has turned a few corners. she desires to know how our kids would "address" us. WHAT? is this really important now? i say "dad" is quite simple and pleasing. but no, posh monica suggests "matashri" and "pitashri" from the Mahabaratha!! WHAT? is this woman for real or is my baby playing with some of the switches in her body? she also does not want debatable names – the names that could mean something else in some other country. she gives an example, "mani" a typical south Indian name actually means "sperm" in indonesia!! what the heck? aditya could mean "hippopotamus breath" in burkina faso! do we have to really care?

my cousin prakash, from good old madras, suggests I change the name of this blog from "amrita puri" to "bhel puri". may be he is right. but do you guys know what [amritapuri] is?

leonardo, my sri lankan mate from australia, sent an email a year back to monica. it was simple and it read "dear monica, i have become a father. ps:not the kind you would see in churches.".

oh leo!! sometimes he cracks me up. ok, "father" is out – but "dad" is ok.

we have a long weekend – monday is a holiday in england! looking forward to that.