This morning, I overheard Natasha (14 years) talking to her mom about some friend of hers breaking up with her boyfriend. I was half following the conversation when I heard her say “.. Boys are so mushy mushy”. In a valiant effort to defend my brethren, I immediately threw the penalty flag and engaged myself in the conversation. “What do mean boys are mushy mushy”, I ventured to ask. The response, befitting any self righteous teenager (which I think means all of them ), was swift and garrulous 🙂 The flurry of words ended with something like “… He was overdoing the boyfriend thing”. Not to be cowed down, I pressed on

I: “How do you know when he is “overdoing” it?”.

Tasha: “Well, when the boy becomes possessive”.

I: “All boys become possessive of their girlfriends. I know I was”.

Tasha: “And see how well they turned out for you”.

Touche!

[Mentally, I was like “Dang it, Rajib, next time stick to engaging in verbal duels with Nikita (8 years). You cannot out speak a teenager and it is absolutely pointless to do so with the wife anyways. Invariably it will end with a sigh and a “Fine” which means you have inevitably reached the point where it is anything but” :-)]