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And here are my flowing cups of freedom

If you are expecting me to whine and moan about being a single woman in the dusty Delhi durbar, I am afraid you might have to skip this. Because I figured out something quite recently. Busy as I was looking for anecdotes that I could use to highlight — in pink, nothing less — how-difficult-life-can-get-if-you-are-a-single-woman, I forgot to appreciate the fact that being single in India is lot easier than say, in Europe!  

Yes, you heard that right.

I escaped to the Western world just when my mother was breathing down my neck, trying every trick in the book to change my status from single to married. I was afraid that I would give in just so she would stop droning in my ears.

I didn't mind having to start from the scratch — build a coterie that I could hang out with. I was raring to partake from the flowing cups of freedom that I have always associated the Western world with.

The questions came soon. 'So, what does your boyfriend do?' Surprise met my 'I haven't any' and then a shrug, which was always followed by 'I'm sure you'll find one soon', delivered in the most pitying tones.  

Boyfriends were not in my scheme of things, either. But then if it takes a boyfriend to fit-in with the gang, so be it. I am still single, after all.

Then one fine day — after a grueling post-breakup consoling session, involving straight shots of vodka, with a girlfriend who declared in defiance, after her eighth, 'I need to find myself a boyfriend asap' — the 'need to' finally penetrated my foggy brains.  

Up popped the thought bulb: Duh! The shape of the societal pressure on women might be different but the magnitude of it is the same, no matter how 'civilised' the society is. In the Western world, single and attached is cool; truly single, greeted with tut-tuts, is not.

Back in India, I was initially apprehensive, convinced that I have grown apart from my gang of girls here, most of whom are married. They are surely going to be scathing of my single status. I was convinced they were going to get busy matchmaking.

Instead, I get admiration. I am constantly being told what a wise choice I made. Go figure that.

And my mother, btw, has decided to leave me in peace ('too old to be married off'). I couldn't have asked for a better happy ending.

PS: Whine and moan will follow soon.
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