I’ve thought long and hard about this and find that I have almost nothing to say about this that hasn’t already been said before. And yet, I write about it…it seems imperative somehow. In a blog about men and women and shifting gender roles and relationships, how can the issue of jealousy not raise its [...]

Some 55-word-stories, related and un-related. Draw your own conclusions and leave your comments behind. Also cross-posted on IFSHA.
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She: I want to meet your ex-girlfriend.
He: What an odd thought! Why?
She: She’s your past and that’s part of you. Getting to know you includes meeting your past.
It’s to know why you like me. If she’s shy, I’ll [...]

Cross-posted on IFSHA here.
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What is the oldest stereotype in the world?
The one every single human being on the planet is subjected to. Across countries, continents, cultures, religions and races. Its the first meaningful proclamation made to world about our existance.
“Congratulations, you have a son!”
or
“Its a girl!”
I’ll take off the heavy connotations of joy at a [...]

He held the door open for me and stood aside.

“Hmm, chivalry, huh?”

I smiled.
He said,

“I thought you said that chivalry died with the 60s?”

“No”

I said,

“Chivalry dies with sex.”

Rude, rude, so very rude of me. But I felt I had to be flippant to cover up my embarrassment at not knowing how to behave in an archaic social ritual like that.

Choice…that’s a good word. The key word for my generation of women. What sets us apart from the women who fought for a vote, the ones who burnt their bras or threw off their aprons and went to work? The fact that we have a choice. We are the ones who are enjoying the fruits of their labors, their sacrifices. As much as I crib about the state of things and how we are still backward in our stereotyping attitudes, I know I’m exceptionally lucky.

I don’t have to have a career. I could just as well be an liberal-minded daughter-in-law and then a modern mum. Or I could be an independent businesswoman. I could be a professional, a social worker, a writer, a travel correspondent….anything at all. I could be any combination of all of them.

Nearly all my close friends are enjoying matrimonial bliss. “So why not you?” I hear my mother’s plaintive cry.

“Because…” and I stumble right there. Well…I don’t have a justification for my singlehood. Come to think of it, it isn’t a crime that I need to justify, is it? I am not married because I am single. That’s that.

I’m not single because I can’t get a man
I’m not single because I have something against marriage
I’m not single because I’m too busy

I’m single by choice. Yes, it is an option.