Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Gender Bender Game


I have been tagged by Shilpa Garg, The Analyst, Indrajeet and am expected to spill out my transgressions – “My Sins against Gender-Stereotypes”. Before I proceed to spill out my darkest, deepest sins, I have to admit I revel in my femininity and enjoy the perks that come attached with it. Try going to the PPF (Public Provident Fund) office alone, forms appear magically, the sour faced officer smiles at you; people actually take a break from their tea-break to help you out. You feel like the magic wand that the fairy god mother lost long ago. At the airport if someone insists on lifting my mammoth bag from the luggage carousel, I happily let him. I do not bristle when someone opens the door for me, pulls out a chair or fetches my choice of poison.
But you wouldn’t catch me dead, fluttering my eyelashes or putting on the delicate darling act. Naaah…that’s not me.

This is me

1 .I dread going to the salon and keep stalling my visit till I start looking like King Kong. Each visit is more traumatic for the staff than it is for me; I wince, complain loudly and request a break every 2 minutes. All these years and I can’t still bear the pain.

2. Are women expected to love cooking? Well I don’t. The endless round of chopping, frying and stewing bores me. But that doesn’t stop me from being a foodie. Thankfully am never short of people willing to indulge me.

3. At a party, the woman laughing the loudest with her head thrown back is usually me. I love cracking jokes and keep my friends in splits with my mimicry. Is that unfeminine?

4. I have stuffed myself in a plastic ball and rolled down the gentle slopes of Khajiar. Have parasailed over the Gulf of Thailand even though I can barely swim to save my life.


5. I love babies as long as they are not mine. I find badly behaved, tantrumy kids revolting. I acquired this aversion rather early. Every time my aunt came visiting us with her whiney baby in tow, me and my Mashi (maternal aunt) would pinch him and make him cry even louder.

6. Inane chit chat bores me. I rarely make phone calls, two minutes into the conversation and I am itching to put the phone down. Seriously how can people talk for hours on the phone and more importantly, what do they talk about!! Gosh I am sounding just like my Mom.

7. PDA (Public display of affection) is not my thing. I don’t mwah-mwah and hugging makes me uncomfortable.

8. I have never played with dolls, pink was never my favourite colour and I avoid bling at all costs.

9. I do not read Danielle Steele and could never comprehend the hoopla around Eric Segal’s –Love Story.

10. I often fantasize about beating the living daylights out of boorish a$%holes who believe rules are meant to be flouted and have scant regard for others.

And dearies I just tagged you. A word of caution though, you must tag twelve blogging friends or else you will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if you are a woman and pink shirts if you are a man – for next twelve years!

Somanjana ,Garima, Sowmya, Joshi Mukard ,le embrouille blogueur, Indrajeet , Restless Souldier


31 comments:

  1. Really funny post :P

    I don't think there's any female today who has ALL the feminine traits. The "delicate darling" belonged to a different generation altogether.

    Made good reading. Keep blogging :)

    Cheers
    CRD

    p.s - do visit mine- www.scriptedinsanity.blogspot.com

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  2. superb!!! am off to pick up some pink shirts lol!!

    love your honesty and style!

    cheers!!

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  3. Too late ... I love pink shirts ...matches my "dudhe altaa" complexion...lol !! Thanks for tagging me !! Loved the read !!

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  4. Oh forgot to mention ... I really like the title....good stuff !!

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  5. Hey Purba - You got me embroiled in this imbroglio!!

    Blue is a good color that I like, so that is not an issue;)

    Nice post that had me nodding along - echoes with so much in common with me!!

    Sowmya
    http://www.buzzzstop.com/

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  6. Haha...loved this post-honest and humorous.:)..disliking inane talks,not having read Danielle Steel/not comprehending all the hype @'love story'by ES...just like me..:)that's me-I can't hide my yawns either on phone or in person,when there's inane chit chat going on...as for not reading some particular books..hahaha.:)

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  7. Ohh...and,keeping people in splits by your mimicry at a party?Can imagine the scene..do share some of the jokes here.:)(U can keep bloggers in splits,too,na?)

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  8. I thought #3 was typically female. Isn't it? Gosh, I need to go to more parties. And #5-#10 are indications of any sane human being, many males included (I hope) :D

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  9. A cool tag!! LOL @ no.1 same pinch!! :D
    And yeah, long talks on phone are not my forte too! And same with PDA :P
    Got to know a bot about you!! :)
    Cheers :)

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  10. Purba - I took your challenge and belted out my post. Tagged a few people I could think of, will see if they keep this going;) Here is my post Girls have all the fun

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  11. Looooooved your post!! the girlie tag attached with women is beyond my understanding too..

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  12. CRD will be visiting your blog soon and thanks for commenting :)))

    magiceye..Don't you complain if you get pursued by the "wrong" gender.

    LEB.. Now I know, all mean secretly love pink :P

    Sowmya.. I love blue! But a good way to bond no?

    Amit..Reading my posts should suffice :D

    Kaushik..Partying is feminine?? Noways..

    Shilpa..The blogger gang bonds :))

    Sowmya..Will be visiting your link soon and that was fast. I took dayyyyys.

    Pallavi...Yay to woman power :))

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  13. Thanks for tagging me. Very nice of you.

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  14. How come all the posts tagged with this tag written by females are SO similar??

    I mean, I've read about five till now. And, the definition of an average lady and the stereotypes have changed!

    So, in that sense, you should think harder and write all over again!!

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  15. Joshi..Thanks for picking up the tag.

    Tanu, Prateek...flattered

    MMB...Dear Boy are you assessing it like an essay/fiction?

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  16. Why do the females of this new world want to prove that they have non of the feminine stereotypes , Really if you want to impress yr girl friend, just tell her " Tum aur ladkiyo ki tarah bilkul nahi ho, you are much more sporty and blah blah " ...

    May be the part of our evolution ? the much desired traits of yesterday becomes burden of today and we want to get rid of them or too much exposure !

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  17. Hey Purba, I didn't mean no offense! Sorry! I just meant that the archetypes have probably changed as every such post I read compares to the ageold archetypes and i pretty much the same!

    Its like if everyone comparesherself to A, the archetype, and finds out she's B, isn't B the archetype?

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  18. reading all the posts under this topic, I think, I can sleep better at night now, knowing that the world would be a better place for women like me...at least I can find birds of the same feather to flock with!

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  19. It's a fun tag Ankit and not some gender war.

    Nalini...Yes and how much we come to know about each other. Many are missing the point here.

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  20. Now we know the truth about gender bias. Nicely written, really witty. Enjoyed reading this...
    Purba, Keep Writing such wonderful pieces.
    Regards
    Vikram

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  21. Hi Purba,

    I enjoy reading your blog.

    BTW what does one have to do to get tagged for 'Sins against Gender Stereotypes'?

    I would like to add my perspectives to the topic.

    Do visit my blog and comment

    http://restlesssouldier.blogspot.com

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  22. Hi. First time visitor to your blog. Came over from Indiblogger. I've done this tag too. Do take a look if you have a chance: http:deepalifeandtimes.blogspot.com

    I can identify with several things that you have written. Like the one about putting off visits to the salon for as long as possible. I also think of violence in certain situations and do not hesitate to land a few punches when men invade my personal space. :)

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  23. Vikram, much appreciate your comments.

    Restless..I tagged you, looking forward to reading your perspective.

    Deepa...Man, I feel like a woman!

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  24. http://restlesssouldier.blogspot.com/2010/07/gender-bender-moments-of-peacekeeping.html

    Here is my link for my gender bender moments.

    Enjoy at your own risk.

    RS.

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  25. Finally done!

    here are my 10 sins against gender stereotyping!

    http://restlesssouldier.blogspot.com/2010/07/gender-bender-moments-second-attempt.html

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  26. Как говорилось на Seexi.net В кризис потерял свой блеска работу, в поиске. Из пенсионного пришло письмо, нужно идти и сдавать трудовую, держать будут с месяц, а в случае в случае если подвернётся работа что делать? Кто будет дожидаться когда мне отдадут трудовую из пенсионного? Можно ли туда отдать ксерокопию?

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  27. Thanks for doing this tag, I chanced upon it when I came to read your post picked by Blogadda.

    A lot of men and little boys like to look good and a lot of women just couldn't care less.
    I guess the tag shows how unique each one of us is and how little most of us fit into gender stereotypes!

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  28. I H M...Better late than never. It took me a while to figure out that you were the brain behind this tag :))

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