Baby Talk

One way to survive the grueling madness of medical school is with a good support system of friends and family. Without it, many a bright mind has succumbed to the intense pressure of scholarship - dropped out, interned in nearby asylums or taken the easy way out by bungee-jumping without a safety cord off the nearest skyscraper.

Me, I had Eye Eddie and Doubting Danny. Coincidentally they both turned out to be raging homos as well - although I only learned that much later. Birds of a pink feather do flock together. Close friends but we never actually roomed together - although we somehow managed for the length of medical school to remain perpetually clustered in the same block. Shared our dinners, our midnight movies, our late night mugging sessions but not our love lives ( that only came later ).

Still after graduation, adulthood and a hectic working life beckoned - and we all returned to our respective states, keeping in touch only irregularly. Till recently when a chance meeting with Danny at a medical conference brought us three together. Barely time enough to catch up with their busy lives which is why I spent one late afternoon lunch with Eye Eddie ( or should I say Eagle-eyed Eddie after the advent of Lasik ).

Since he'd recently stumbled into the seedy world of gay saunas, Eddie regaled me with some of his more... risque experiences while I probably bored him with some of my more sedate travelogues. However not long after that we somehow veered inexplicably towards children when he mentioned that he wasn't a big fan.

Eddie : You actually want kids?
Paul : Who knows? Maybe someday.
Eddie : Never thought of kids.
Paul : None at all? Not even a pet? A houseplant?
Eddie : Not at the moment, no. Probably never though. I don't even think Danny has thought of this either. Danny hates kids.
Paul : Hates kids?

Danny hates kids?!


Did he actually say hates kids?!
Hey, I am a realist. I know kids can be a pain sometimes. They scream and yell at inappropriate moments ( somehow fortuitously planned at the most torturously embarassing moments in public shopping areas ). They spew gooey bodily fluids out of every orifice at every inopportune moment ( just when I'm wearing some sinfully expensive silk shirt ). They set up regular howling protests with revolutionary placards whenever bedtime is near.

Trust me, I babysit on semi-regular occasions with doubtful results :)

But my occasionally nightmarish experiences with my niece and nephew certainly hasn't put me off children. As a matter of fact, it has made me long to be a dad even more.

Now no worries, don't panic. I'm certainly not going to pull a Jolie, rush off to some troubled developing banana republic and pick out a cute kid from an adoption line-up.

Hell, I haven't even picked Charming Calvin's brains on children. For all I know the man wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Not everyone thinks like me, that's for sure. After all most gay men I know wouldn't drive of giving up their designer tees and thumpa thumpa clubbing nights for soggy diapers and midnight feeds.

But that didn't stop me from accidentally stumbling into an adoption site. :) Makes for interesting reading. Now for a bit of trivia, betcha didn't know that single men in Malaysia could only adopt boys.