Stand Up and Take a Bow

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Every journalist is basically just a curious little kid. All we want to do is go into people's homes, look at how they live, find out how they feel, ask them what they enjoy doing. Sometimes actually putting their stories out is the afterthought, something we HAVE to do after we've had all the fun.

And despite our impertinence, and nosiness, we receive kindness and hospitality most places we go. From the cup of Kahwa in Kashmir's frozen cold to the invitation to lunch on a tsunami-devastated beach in Tamil Nadu, to the way people insisted on pulling out chairs for us to sit on in villages of Gujarat as they recounted horrors of the riots.

And those are the extreme cases. In our daily jobs, we meet scores of people who are patient and polite as we try and get close-up with cameras for a glimpse of their lives.

Sometimes-they're just regular people like you and me- but our profession also allows us to go behind closed doors, through security checks, and past ceremonial gates.

This has been a particularly interesting month for me in that regard. I have been privileged to see something of the lives of the first ladies of not one but three countries. All women behind men known worldwide.

It began with an interview with the beautiful eldest queen of Bhutan Ashi Dorji Wangmo in Delhi to sign the contract for a book she is about to publish. The Bhutanese are quiet, dignified, reserved, and even so the sparkle in her eyes as she spoke about her country, and particularly her husband, was easily captured in the TV camera's eye.

She speaks of her concern about how to allow the benefits of the modern world to filter in without letting any of its own traditional culture out. And there she was, elegant queen of the Himalayan kingdom in her regal green and black kira, donning her spectacles as she surfed the net and edited her own manuscript. Interestingly, it was a click of her mouse that inaugurated the Internet in Bhutan.

And then there was Laura and the muppets. I was lucky to be one of the few let into the studios in Delhi where the US First lady was taping an Indian version of Sesame Street. I was slightly offended at first, to find myself being checked by American, not Indian security guards - but that didn't last long.

Laura Bush was fun, and clearly enjoying herself as she shook hands with Boombah the lion, counted in Hindi and English with schoolkid Chamki, and namaste-ed the rest. She must have had a long day ahead of her - state banquets, visiting schools, just keeping up with her husband's frenetic pace etc - but from what I could see, she was able to totally enjoy the moment - and hanging out with Laura, I must say was exceedingly relaxing.

This week I went to Gen Pervez Musharraf's home to interview both his wife Begum Sehba Musharraf and his mother Begum Zareen Musharraf. I spent a delightful half-hour finding out more about the women behind the Man (more of which you will see on the channel this weekend hopefully).

His mother was charming beyond words. When I asked her why she had pushed a young Pervez towards the Army, she said simply because she "so loved the uniform and how smart it made him look". But it was her memories of India that were particularly nostalgic. She was one of only six Muslim girls who studied at the Indraprastha College in Delhi. When I asked her if she missed India, she smiled and said "of course".

Begum Sehba, a good Fauji wife to the core- quietly confident and intelligent- with a completely spontaneous laugh. She revealed how General Musharraf was a fitness freak, constantly going out to play games as a young man, to the point her father worried if he would break some bones. But then, with a hint of seriousness, which indicated probably how she felt about her husband's current position.

"A man's got to do what he has got to do. I believe everyone gets a small window of opportunity to do what they want and they must be allowed to use it."

So what do all these first ladies from three disparate parts of the world have in common? I guess they all kind of glowed when they discussed their husbands - and seemed happy in their own supporting roles.

I know International Women's day is about women in far less privileged positions, women who hold up half the sky, working hard while suffering the worst forms of abuse. But I have to say, I also do have some admiration for so many that stay the course, but enable others around them - husbands, daughters, sons, even friends to go out there and use "the windows of opportunity" given to them.

We're not heads of state, but we all have women who have pushed us, allowed us and encouraged us to do what we want to do. Here's to all of them - and to the rest of us - Happy Women's Day.