Marriage and Social Acceptance

In the last couple of months a few of my close friends have bitten the dust (one more is about to. )and currently are absolutely smitten by the love bug !! Everytime I break any such news at home these days, I know whats coming next.., their faces absolutely without an utter say "When is your Turn ?"

I have been wondering the last few months, why is getting married the One All, Be All.. aren't there more things in life that are as important, my mother invariably senses this and keeps hammering that "there are other things as well, but nothing as important as tying the knot". I have somehow come to conclude that once you are committed (though this does not mean much these days), engaged (same as the previous one), married (now we are talking) , society looks up to you with much more respect than before. People feel "Ok, this guy is not that disgusting perhaps, lets cozy a little bit upto him". I go for walks up the Law College Tekdi sometimes and I see newly/about-to-be married couples holding hands, whispering sweet nothings and I do feel a little bit of envy, I admit. But to be very true, I also see a little smirk or a sly smug on most faces as well which seems to suggest that "Ok, how the heck did I manage to fool someone so easily !! The happiness also stems from the fact that there is someone willing to accept you as how you are with all your fallacies intact .."
Very few realize that their partner is also probably thinking the same ;)

Now, I may be ridiculed that I am being a pessimist or this is nothing but a case of sour grapes.., trust me, I am very happy for all of friends who are "happily" married or who are about to be. Frankly speaking amongst the multitudes of friends who have tied the knot I see 2 (all of 2) pairs (one, a very close friend, another from college) which are really close to one another.. The way they speak to each other, about one another.., the way my two friends (and their spouses as well) hang up their wireless phones.. even though they are disconnected, I feel the connection is not lost (In case of others maybe it is there, but its that I don't see it..) It could also be attributed to some dreadful moments that they witnessed in their past.., but mostly its due to the simple fact that they want to make it work.

Now to the important part.. Why am I still single? I am neither afraid of commitments nor do I have any doubts of my orientation. Simple, its just not working my way and I have no ill-feelings towards anyone for it not working. Personally, I am comfortable with way things are, it is the peer/society pressure which kills :) I am still not social-acceptable. I may be now, but 3-4 years down the line, I may be the one castigated to the sidelines. (I would probably still have Sameer as company while having coffee on the 4th floor walkway :D ) There have been instances when I was close, but the ball never turned or bounced the way it was intended. She either had issues with me supporting my sister's education (when the time would come), did not want to travel abroad (not that I am flying tomorrow) or her job profile/aspirations (which she was convinced was the perfect one) were such that we would not have got enough time together.

I am really at a loss how to conclude this one, as it is as much an open-ended issue, till the time it actually ends. So till the time you hear any good news, let me keep this one alive

Its really funny that 2 2in*2in absent patches of thickets could actually ostracize a person from society !! When the "Genetically Weakened Defective Picket Fences" started giving way early in college, it wasn't much of an issue, but now I feel I am about a hair's thickness away from being quarantined.

My "Beauty" Escapade

A few days back on one of my blog I had mentioned about having a Root-Canal and how painful the procedure was and that the next worst would be a Kidney-Stone. One of my Girl-Friends (friend who is a girl) said that I take it one step at a time and that I should try Threading/Waxing. I promptly called my dentist and .... he probably passed out or shut shop or maybe has shut shop all-together. I called my friend again and told her about it. She too nearly died laughing. I later understood that this was not a dental procedure but instead a procedure carried out in a Parlour or a Salon (for newcomers its Salon and Not Saloon) as I had understood. I also ensured that I took appropriate permission from head-quarters (read Mother). I was even more surprised when she said that it was a good thing to get rid of my Uni-Brow which made me look like "KroorSingh" from ChandraKanta YUCKKOOOO

Ok so there I was standing inside one of the Men's Salon on Bhandarkar Road. This was one heck of a place, huge room with 4 very comfortable chairs in four corners with amazing arm/head rests and all (This was the only comfort I received there).There was one Goldilocks with his Rapunzelesque hair drenched in a tub and a man was combing through the same, another one had some kind of cream applied, I called him the Creamy Layer ;) (all in my mind). All in all it was a sight to behold. I was about to receive the wildest jolt of my life in a few minutes and I did not have the slightest of ideas. Normally when I go to the Saloon (this one is the Regular Ghaati Types) I generally close my eyes and chat with Mahesh (the owner) about the happenings in our colony and in general, till its time to leave. I did the same here and the person (different Mahesh) asked if he could proceed and he did when I gave him the green light.

I felt something close to my eye-brow and then Holy-Smoly-&*&^%^& .. what the *&^&^ on earth was that.. I opened my eyes to see a man hovering around me with a Thread inter-twined in his teeth, hands and probably some place else. I am a person who can bear pain, physical and mental both.. but just by mere Reflex-Action a tear-drop did come out. Through the mirror I was staring and glaring at him but he was practically unmoved as if he had not committed any blunder. I stared back at the mirror to look at myself and that was the weirdest I have ever looked. It was obvious that the procedure could not be reverted nor could it have ended there. The next few moments of my life were.. I was miserable and must have cursed the man (with the thread), who was on an all out mission to ruin my weekend, and his past 15 generations.

I must have also shed around 5ml of Tears in the whole process !! People say "No Gain, Without Pain", which I feel is nothing but Bull-$#!&, I did not gain a whisker (rather lost some similar ones) and Pain.., yup.., that I Gained a lottt, too much for anyones comfort.

I asked what Waxing would be like and what the procedure would do to me. To sum up his words in one line "Waxing: Process that would Transform me from being a Anil Kapoor to being a Salman Khan" !! I almost bolted out of the door, "Thats It", I said, "Pack-Up". I was/am tooo damn scared to even think what the heck that Waxing stuff ought to be and made my way out. I was only too happy to see my first (and perhaps only) tryst with Parlourhood (if thats a word) end. An ordeal that tried to convert me to a metrosexual ended midway and I heaved a great sigh of relief.

I had doled out a 3 digit sum for one of the ghastliest cruelest procedure a human can carry out on himself. The next week my eyes and the space between them twitched and itched like anything, cold cream, talc didn't help. And yes, if you have cold, ensure than Amrutanjan does not creep from your nose upward. Coz that too is ^&*^*&^-*&^&*^*

My respect for the Fairer-Sex has increased atleast ten-fold