Genderless camaraderie on Facebook: A dream?
By: Satarupa Mishra
Being a woman isn't a mug of beer, where you can choose to
relax on a comfy couch and get ‘comfortably numb’ to the tunes of Pink Floyd.
Being a woman is more like Hakka noodles, where you have to fight with the
chopsticks and tame the noodles so that they are placed exactly where they
should be – the mouth – and not on the table or your lap (Remember, it’s not
lady-like at all to slurp those juicy noodles either). But when a woman has
crossed the dangerous mark of ‘30’ and is in love with her beer, the Hakka
noodles are hurled like hand grenades, landing on accidental enemies.
I might not have inherited sharp brains from my maternal
family; but one thing I have definitely inherited is my younger-looking genes.
Thanks to my genes, I can deceive men into believing that I am still young,
docile and happening. But some sort of chemical reaction seems to be going on
inside these days. I could feel my veins carrying acid instead of blood of
late. Maybe, the damsel is turning into an Acid Aunt. And what happens when an
Acid Aunt is pursued by men on the social networking sites? Well, God save them
till I am still human!
He: Hello! Thanks for accepting my friend request.
Me: Most welcome.
He: You had your dinner?
Me: No reply…
(Next morning)
He: Good morning! Have a nice day.
Me: Thanks and wish you the same.
He: So you had your breakfast?
Me: No reply…
(Afternoon)
He: Hello
Me: No reply…
He: You had your lunch?
Me: Are you a dietician?
He: LOL. No, why do you ask so?
Me: At the time of sending me a request, I am sure you must
have scanned me through. You found my face pretty, and my body overweight. And now
you are trying to track down my calories so that you can tell me how fat I am
and why I need a dietician urgently. Am I right?
He: No reply…
While it will be heretic to say that 30-year women do not
enjoy men’s attention, however, the demand for gray matter in men leaps
drastically higher for the former. Unfortunately, turning into a gastronomical
GPS is going to impress the least.
As a feminist, I have the right to make my own choices. And
I chose to accept friend requests from people sharing common profession and
interest. Gosh, why did I choose! I came across an interesting ‘personality’,
who called himself an upcoming poet. The first time he pinged me asking whether
I write poetry, I felt a mutual poetic stream running in the conversation.
Alas! My pleasant feeling couldn't last more than a week.
He: Hello Ma’am!
Me: Hi!
He: Have you composed any poem lately?
Me: (Happy that in a time of selfies, someone was interested
in my poetry) Of course I have.
He: Wow! Would you please share your poem with me?
Me: Thank you for your interest. I have a Page on Facebook,
The Dosti Page. Please follow my Page for my poems (Yes, I am indirectly
promoting my Page here because no one else seems to promote).
He: I have seen your Page Ma’am. But those poems are for public.
I want you to share a poem exclusively meant for me. After all, I am your
special friend.
Huh! Special friend! When did that happen? I can’t even find
my special friendship band!
You don’t always need an intelligent raconteur or a good
kisser to shut your mouth. These kinds of sudden, most unreasonable
declarations from imbeciles can also achieve the colossal feat of getting me
speechless. Yes, I have been speechless with him ever since.
Having woofed enough about these poor imbeciles, I must tell
you about another breed of men found in the web world. Unlike the former who
are rather ‘innocent’ and ‘transparent’ in their approach, these men are
dangerous for they are well-endowed. I mean, well-endowed with the brains (my
carnal desires are well under control you dirty minds). They study your profile
in a way that would make the most dangerous espionages of the world blush in
embarrassment. And then they approach you, fully knowing that they are going to
earn an “Excellent” in their homework book.
For example, for a woman like me who has heard enough of
those, “You are pretty”, “You are awesome”, “You are gorgeous”, only to feel
cheated later, it's phrases like “You are among women with brains”, and “Your
poems stir my soul” that sound music to my ears. And these men know that
exactly. Gradually, those rosy compliments start taking a wrong turn.
Discussing parts of the poems get replaced by subtly complimenting parts of the
body. And a 30+-year old woman is finally left to either fall into the prey, or
say that she is engaged and get excused, or publish the conversation on a
social media platform to expose the lecher (I personally find this pretty
uncouth), or get into an ugly brawl and block the person (God forbid you don’t
bump into that person at a gathering where your coveted job demands you to
maintain absolute composure and elegance. Only Acid Aunts like me would know
the effort it takes to resist emptying the whiskey glass on his face. It won’t
hurt me much. After all, beer is my man, not a whiskey).
Well, this was my part of experience. Doubtless that men
will have their own stories to share too, for I have known men being threatened
by the ridiculously mushy and unimaginable marriage proposals from female
adulators. And to some extent, it's a girl's world. You never know she might
accuse him of ill-intentioned advances and even molestation as a revenge for
rejection.
So now the question is, why did I have to write all these?
Well, I had to contribute my first article to this blog, and my acid needed an
outlet too. So here I am, flushing the toxins. Kindly sit with a bowl of
strawberries, papayas, blueberries, plums and avocados while reading this. They
are good sources of antioxidants to keep the toxins at bay. And for me, I still
don’t wish to lose hope that real friendships and intellectual camaraderie
between men and women are still possible on the social networking sites.
Haahaa good one... woes of 30+.. But do you think 30+ + the married tag save the women from such useless lechers?? 😀
ReplyDeletePretty or not, married or not, 20 or 30, women are pursued. I salute the inexhaustible perseverance of our respected opposite sex, who also keep the masts of our attitude and nakhra flying high :-D
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