Cynic in the city

The best welcome I could ever have - the whole building came out to see me and my bunch of friends dragging our luggage up the stairs. The watchmen here never help, they only watch. So when I was signing up for this PG accommodation I was asked, Marriage when? Engaged huh? I was like why, is that a criterion? The old wives told me no, it is not. But it is not a good idea to remain single and unmarried if a girl has crossed 25 years of age. Weird. Even at 32, these women are haggardly old because they married so young.

Even worse is to be seen with anybody male - colleague, friend or cousin of friend. You are a not-so-good girl. If your male acquaintance is introduced then it is ok-ok modern and corporate culture. You are a good girl if you don’t  go out on Sundays and watch Rajnikant’s Chandramukhi with 12 other girls on that Big Bazaar color TV and be hysterical. Also, not to forget the suffocating obsession with Shriya and Trisha. Oh, by the way, one is a southern siren and the other a versatile actress. 

We had an awesome bathroom cleaner who wore such fancy salwar suits and still demanded old clothes from us. I miss the wee hours of the morning when one of the ammas would wake up early and do the dosa batter after her sacred ablutions. Since I came from the Highlands, I was not used to cold water showers, I paid her five rupees everyday for 2 litres of hot water.The mornings were sacred -the smell of fresh earth, the wafting jasmine in the air and the incense in the chiming temples and  the aroma from roadside bundis of tea and tiffins.

I miss the Kadapa girls, I fondly remember the henna days and the mehndi nights.I learnt to appreciate the humble FM phone as my ally.

Nobody will believe you that you went out for a late night movie especially when they see you dropped home by a male friend. Something fishy is always running in their heads.

When I left the PG, all the best wishes were around getting married and come visiting there with your husband and kid (not baby).

Guffaws.