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When Geographical Distances Become Historical Facts - By- MJ Neela M.J. Neela is a Freelance writer and works from home. She characterises herself as a post-modern non-linear thinker. She believes each of us should make a contribution to our society, even if just by way of our own unique influences through positive thinking. Neela is married to an Air Force Officer and has a seven-year-old son. She holds an M.Phil degree from JNU (New Delhi) in International Politics. she loves to write on a variety of subjects. Issues concerning women and children in today's socio-political realm are of special interest to her.

Distances don't matter any more. We chat with friends and relatives living thousands of miles away. In one instance that I personally know of, a son living in the US of A got a bunch of red roses delivered at his mother's doorstep. Transnational and Multinational companies can have their different sections positioned all over the world. For example, an MNC might have its customer service center situated right across the world and a customer need never know that he or she had just been talking to an employee situated in a foreign country. This is possible, because the Satellite effectively eliminates geographical boundaries. E-commerce is the latest thing going and if one is living in a big city, you can do a lot of business transactions sitting at home. One only needs to have a PC with Internet connectivity. Freelancing from residence is a lucrative enough profession these days. Indeed, one needn't go to offices at all. Offices come home and homes become offices.

I have often wondered where us women stand in this new scenario. Lets have a look at the changes that are likely to have taken place:

(a) Husbands, fathers, brothers and sons stay at home and work from home. Whereas earlier the men folk would be absent from homes and the women folk were free to attend to their daily chores, now there will be an added chore to attend to - the men at work! Whereas earlier a lot of decent men would buy household things en-route from office, now the wife will have the added burden of looking after the shopping etc entirely on her own, plus the domestic front. Now office hours get stretched into an indefinite notion. There is no more office time or family time. Since remunerations will depend more and more on the time one puts into the PC, the temptation of putting in an extra hour will always have its bearings on the family front - although technically speaking, the "master" is physically present in the house. Office is now an omnipresent phenomenon - always present, all pervading and forever interfering. Luckily for men, he can now carry on his overtime at home without having to face an irate wife on reaching home from late hours in office.

(b) Of course, on the flip side, women themselves stand to benefit from the new work-from-home avenues that have been steadily rising ever since the Internet has taken over. Women, who are qualified professionally but have stayed at home ever since she got married to become the ideal 'home-maker', will be able to work now without having to compromise on her home front. Women who are not so qualified too can benefit by way of doing something for her own self. Like for example, she can, without having to compete for admission in conventional institutions, enroll in some vocational course and even start an entrepreneurial venture of her own.

In situations where both the husband and wife work from home, it could hopefully even lead to more meaningful involvement of both parents to raise their kids. And speaking of kids, the work from home routine might even force couples to think seriously about whether they have the time to raise kids at all. It seems probable that when work places and homes get mixed up, kids will no longer be a natural sight to see at homes. It might sound ridiculous as of now, but it is a distinct futuristic possibility. Or you might have more and more older parents who had postponed the issue of 'issues' till after their careers were more settled.

The option to have kids will be exercised where earlier such choices could never be fathomed. The contrast between a career woman and a homemaker will be starker than ever before. Both will be tasked to compromise somewhere. The choice of not exercising her biological "essence" for one, and an increase in chores on the home front for the other.

In either case, women will be forced once again to gear up differently and face up to the great wave of globalisation that has extended right up to our homes, and thus made history of old geographical demarcations.

Till we connect again...

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