Blonde and Blonder

Lately I have noticed something rather weird and completely uncharacteristic of me: I have been getting along with women! Throughout my life I have had more male friends, simply because I have grown up with more guys than girls. So it’s no surprise that the only women friends I have were forced upon me as roommates/flatmates: yes, all FOUR of them.

But now that three of them are married, and the other one is in Bangalore (and she no longer reads my blog), I have been missing that female bonding for some time now. Of course, it’s awesome to go out with the guys and have a drink, abuse the hell out of the Indian cricket team and crib about the boss, but sleepovers with girls are something totally different.

And it’s not like I expected things to get any better. At my age, single women are an endangered species, and since most women around me are busy discussing babies/EMIs/maids/petrol prices, I have felt completely out of place. So just when I had almost given up, I discovered some awesome women, who are not only interesting, fun and smart, but they are in the same loserly boat as mine: confused, rebellious and yes, single! The surprising bit is that I can spend hours talking to them without feeling bored or claustrophobic, I can be my stupid idealistic self without being judged and I can be spontaneous without caring about being misunderstood: it’s a pity that I can’t say the same for most men!

So if we are not enthusiastically planning trips to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, we are making fun of bharatmatrimony.com where we have a lifetime membership, trying in vain to be “fair, slim and god-fearing”, because the perfect guy is just around the corner, like he has been for the last three years…

If we are not binging on the customary Double Trouble doughnut to cheer ourselves up to get over a dreadfully boring meeting, we are deriving a perverse pleasure criticizing other people’s dressing sense, attitudes and stupidity and basking in the halo of our superiority, even if the rest of the world doesn’t agree…

If we are not discussing unrealistic aspirations of making it big on our own honestly without making any compromises, we are lamenting our failed relationships, assuring one another that we have indeed grown up, while reaching for the pair of strappy sandals we don’t need…

Even if we don’t believe in soulmates, we definitely believe in soul sisters…