Thursday, April 1, 2010

A WALK TO REMEMBER.....

Bunking class and hanging out is a normal part of college life… Nothing extraordinary about it… But yesterday was very special to me…. I learnt many things…We had already decided to meet at nine and roam around the whole day… but by the time my extremely sleepy friends woke up and got dressed it was past eleven. After spending a lazy hour in our friends flat surfing channels we finally went out to roam.
First we went to the so called “Youngsters favourite hangout place” KFC. Food is the most expensive thing in Ernakulum and the guys paid the entire bill (point to be noted since this incident affects the story again). After this my friend’s extremely tyrannical mom called her back since its getting late (It was just past 12 noon k?? :D) and another went off to see his old buddies.
Eventually me and two guys were the only ones left. We went for a long walk along M.G.Road…. It was mid-day and it was like walking in an oven kept in hell…. But still it was real fun….. We talked a lot and whenever it became too hot we got into any shop which had a/c. I think there are no shops left on that road we haven’t attacked…
We got into seemati first… a very famous textile shop… Since we are all on the verge of bankruptcy the only reason we entered that place was to shelter from the unbearable heat… first we went to the men’s section and had a gala time commenting on the various shirts and tshirts… teasing each other’s likes… tricking the salesmen into thinking we are potential customers…. After driving everyone crazy there we went to the ladies section…. I was immersed in going through the displays when I turned back and saw the guys standing back embarrassed. They felt extremely odd being in the girls section and was fidgeting. This is the when I derived my first theory…. Guys are more insecure than gals. They feel that being among ladies stuff will make them girlie… How sad…. I obviously couldn’t leave them in such a position.. So after that we entered only guys brand shops… and since there are multimillion brands for guys (basics… wrangler…levi strauss.. blah.. blah.. blah…) we had plenty of options…. We also found a bonsai shop… but they sold only pots and clipperes…and no a/c either… damn!!
Finally we entered a coffee shop totally tired out….dripping like a wet towel… and ravishingly thirsty…. It was so relaxing to finally sink into a chair and sip something…
It was a great walk… I got to know them better… realised that we are actually so different… and wondered at how we all became so close inspite of being so unalike…I mean there isn’t anything we actually agree on ..and yet we are friends.. Amazing relationship…
It seemed like the perfect day till the bill came. I thought it was natural that I should pay it since they took care of the kfc bill. They were feeling bad about making me pay and I thought they were trying to be chivalrous which is pretty sweet. But what they said next totally disappointed me… “What will your parents say when they know you spent so much money… you are a girl nah??”….. WTF!!!! I felt so insanely mad then… This is exactly what everyone believes…. These guys are kinda like my best friends and I would never say anything against them but even they have this attitude…. But I don’t blame them… it is what the society has forced us to accept… it’s what we are taught by the society… gals need to save their parents’ money since getting them married is such an expensive process while guys can just fling their money around since they are ‘guys after all’….. There are specific rules and codes of conduct for boys and girls… any deviation from them marks you as insane… crazy… rebellious….
There was a time when such an incident would be the end of my friendship… but now even if I get angry when I hear such things I have learnt to accept it… I will never support it… I will never follow it… but since I cant change anyone’s attitude I just accept it… after all friendship is all about adjustment…
Even if I can’t change the world one thing I can do is hold onto what I believe in… but I sometimes find even that difficult…. It’s hard to get accepted… you get teased… you get looked down on… you are considered as an idiot.. And most irritatingly you are branded as a feminist…. But at the end of it even if you find that no one agrees with you, you get a satisfaction of knowing that you did the right thing…
Life is an a beautiful experience…. Every moment you learn something… yesterday I learnt two things… one.. You don’t need to believe in the same thing to become friends… and two… you don’t need others to accept what you believe in as long as you believe it yourself…..
So the walk to remember came to an end with them dropping me off at the station… I don’t know if they spent the day with me as an obligation or whether they honestly enjoyed it… all I know is that it was a truly lovely time for me… thanks a lot buddies… tc..
PS: Wanted to write something on woman’s day but couldn’t get any inspiration… so I think I’ll consider this as a woman’s day dedication… Something better than nothing nah??