Ladylike.... grrrrr

There are some characteristics that are simply not applicable to guys. Like grace, modesty, honesty…... hyuck hyuck…. okay, me just joking. So, all those guys who had taken up the cudgels against me, you can let it fall to the floor. THUNK !!

But it’s true – there are some characteristics that so typically belong to either a ‘he’ or ‘she’. Such as macho – male, chauvinistic – again male, petite – female… and so on.

I always thought that squeamishness belonged to the ladies. Few samples:

“Oooohhhhhhhhh….. I hate cockroaches. Those creepy-crawly creatures make me go ugggggggghhhh.”

“Yuck….I do not think that this hotel is good. Look at the table-clothe – how dirty it is.”

“How can you go trekking? All that rough terrain. It makes me sooooooooo tired.”

And the list goes on.....

So my belief regarding squeamishness as a woman’s distinctive feature was as firm as a wall until it was knocked down by Var.

Var is my cube-mate, the most junior member of the team and yet the only one who’s married :). He’s opinionated about everything under the sun. However he’s very easy to get along with – no airs and certainly, no formality. He has one drawback though– sometimes he behaves exactly like ladies.

Picture this situation:

We have been plagued by ants for the past couple of days. Most of the times, we find them harmless and scurrying across the desk for food crumbs. But no…not Var. The moment he sets his sight on some ant, his ranting starts – “These ants…. why on the earth do they come?(???) Don’t they have any better work to do? They get into clothes and make life hell.” I got so tired of his wails that I silenced him one day like this – “Poor ant, it must have been so frustrated with life to set sights on you and thus commit suicide.” Var, as usual, did not get the import immediately. But ya….. his bickering did stop. Thanks to sarcastic me :) !!

I am a sucker for conserving electricity. We are lucky to have a cube facing a window. While I open the drapes, Var closes them and switches on the tube-lights.

“It’s sooooo sunny. How can you work, Chitra?”

And I respond “Why don’t you make use of that Sun-Screen Lotion stashed in your unit? BTW, I thought only ladies used it.”

The glare of this artificial light on a nice, sunny, pleasant day irritates me a lot. And an argument begins…. and goes on and on until Tu and Roh butt in. Nowadays, we are following the “Treaty of GPS Cube” (GPS being the name of our team). Mornings full of sun-shine and evenings full of tube-lights. So… dono party khush !!

Oh ya….. his unit is a small-scale facilities department – he has every imaginable knick-knack like plain sheets, books, pencils, pens, files, markers, a Lakme Conditioner (I sneaked a look), a sun-screen lotion, a nail-cutter, an antiseptic, bundle of handkerchiefs, several ties, an alarm clock, his lunch-dabba ……oooppph let me catch my breath.

And he thought that I was squeamish!! Me…. a reformed tomboy?? Sheesh !!