If you have ever browsed through the HT weekly magazine 'Brunch' and flipped over to the last page dedicated to the column "Personal Agenda" given to celebrity acquaintance through a set of structured questions, you'd know what I am talking about. One of the pet questions asked, goes something like, "What's in your wallet/purse?" The replies are typical of the respective genders. While a male celebrity would brush aside the question with a perfunctory " credit/debit cards and a few bills" , the femme-fatale would give a more prim list...
" Lip gloss" (I cannot possibly pout before the camera with chapped lips!!!!)
"A bottle of my fav Sun-screen Lotion" (The raaz behind my flawless, tanless complexion!!!)
"Mobile/i-phone" (Its male mindset that we are given to jabbering!!!!)
"A book" (I am a voracious reader, y' know!!!)
"i-pod/i-pad" ( Am so tech-savvy!!)
"......etc., ...etc.,"
If anybody would ask me the same question, though, I doubt if anybody ever would, but still, my unexciting answer will be ...
"I-Card" (First and foremost, without which I'd be quite lost)
"Wallet stuffed with every type of plastic money & various cards issued by different arms of the govt."
"A dozen screwed up ATM slips" (Spendthrift, did you say?)
"A bunch of hurriedly shoved in papers (important/ unimportant/essential)"
"A crooked umbrella for every season"
"A comb and a sanitizer to fill up the space for cosmetics"
"A dog-eared volume of unfinished reading"
And other such mundane things.
However, this was the list prior to 20th December 2012..
A slight change.has taken place thereafter..
Having been influenced by the concerned RJ on Rainbow FM, I have quietly wrapped a little Red Hot Michi Powder in a plastic pack and tucked the same in the front pocket of my bag ( I carry a tote)
Nowadays, I am also looking for a trustworthy can of pepper spray or jogger fogger and a pocket knife with a silver-sharp edge..
As the bestial behaviour of a pack of half a dozen wolves sprang up on the Headlines of all the Dailies making the city dwellers cringe in disgust, shame and a sickening fear (if this happens to anyone of us/any member of my family?), a drastic change has taken place in the female psyche in the Capital with a corresponding change in how we accessorize ourselves.
Gone are the days of kangna, jhumka, haar and bindiya...
I wish I were a black or brown belt or could carry a mean looking pistol (of course, licensed) on my
person.
Somehow, I don't miss the era of Victorian modesty anymore...
We have to adapt to changing times, aren't we?
Thumb Rule of Survival...
Unfortunate? Sad?
Don't know. Haven't had the time to think over. Self defense has been the overcrowding thought taking over the luxury of nostalgia.
Such is the time we live in
Time which is changing faster than we can cope with...
So are we, panting and sweating, to win a hurdle race over a looooooooooooooong distance
Will we succeed?
I leave that for you to think over....
