Celebrating 10 years of spinsterhood

I attended a wedding for the first time when I was 9, and was thoroughly turned off. It was a loud & noisy event attended by too many guests. The poor bride was wearing heavy make up & a painted smile. The groom was not wearing make up, but he wore the same artificial smile. And the photographers were clicking pictures non stop. It was more than enough to scare a simple, introverted, unsociable and camera shy kid like me. "I will never marry", I announced, very seriously to my mother. Of course, I was too young to understand the concept of marriage, or for that matter, spinsterhood at that age.

It was when I was 16 years old that I officially declared myself a spinster, the concept of being unmarried & independent was so appealing. Well, a 16 year old is still too young to be considered a spinster, but thats what I fancied myself to be. But my granny and aunt had other plans, they were seriously worried about my marriage, they could find no other topic to talk about. My aunt already had a list of eligible bachelors ready at hand. I was barely 18 when aunt put up a nice little drama in front of my mother- complete with tears & threats. The tears stopped flowing only when mom promised her what she wanted. That I would be married off only to a guy of my aunt's choice. And I seriously believed that one day my relatives would forcibly marry me off to a nice-guy-on-sale, available in abundance in the Indian marriage market. I told mom that if that ever happened, I would poison my husband to death. Its really funny, but that threat worked!! Maybe the thought of a good, sanskari guy dying a painful death was too horrible for mom to comprehend, my aunt never dared to interfere in my life again.

Now it has been 10 years of glorious spinsterhood for me, and I love every moment of it, but it does not mean that I am one of those male-hating-feminists, as my dear aunt once suggested to mom. I do like & respect men. I have had many crushes till now, been in love thrice & once even got messed up over a complete idiot. It happens, I believe these things are necessary. I have always loved falling in love, being in love, its such a beautiful feeling. Even getting over a love that once existed is a very meaningful experience. Love is natural, but marriage after all, is just a man made concept. I have nothing against the institution of marriage, being married suits a lot of people, its just that I am not one of them.

Ah, how wonderful it feels to be 26 & single :-) !!