Secret confessions of a self proclaimed tomboy ;)

This blog is dedicated to one of the much debated issues of my life......am I a tomboy? I though this really deserved a few KBs of internet world.

Yes, I have a long hair and  I have my own customized "make up" kit. I do dress up for different occasions and can carry a sari with considerable grace. But then I can go on for days with no makeup on. I can  just get out of the bed and go shopping  with my hair undone.Yes, I have pairs of sandals which I have never used and thats because I like to perennially sport my Men's puma Ducati shoes( Poor guy at the store could not get my abnormally large feet into any of the women's puma). Yes, I do like to ogle at the likes of Richard Armitage, Christian bale and Di Caprio  but lets not forget that these are the best of the acting talent we have in the western hemisphere. Yes, I have a substantial amount of pink in my wardrobe  but so are the blues, greys and blacks. Yes I can cry my heart out every time I watch Gangster but I can also laugh my heart out at The Angrez. Kushi,Alaipazhuthey and Hitch are my all time favorite  movies and so are the likes of fight club, Blood Diamond and Departed. I go gaga over British series and love all the protocols associated with the old world charm but I also adore the sloppy indifference of Captain Jack Sparrow when he utters the famous lines of  "why is the rum always gone?".  

I have never understood the need to stereotype people into different personality slots based on appearances. I have always felt every person has a distinct flavor to their lifestyle and looks are just one facet of it. So when did my initiation into the world of "tomboyhood" start? I am guessing with my first reading of The Famous Five just after I turned 10. I loved George and wanted to emulate her in every manner so much so that I insisted on my parents calling me Shreyas and by sporting very short hair. These were granted after much persuasion, but timmy remained a distant dream. Then my brother's  WWF antics led me to watch the likes of Undertakers' and Rocks' so that I could build a  stronger defense against immature replications of "ChokeSlam" and "Lastride". Then from real we turned virtual with Need for Speed, Virtual Fighter and Age of Empires. We would at times miss school just to beat each others records. 

At around when I was 13, it was gully cricket which I would rather call as "Terrace cricket" that turned out to be the my most favorite sport. We were a team of 10 guys and a tomboy. With them I had learnt how to bowl a leg spin and an off spin, jump parapet walls, wreck my mom's much beloved "roof top garden", talk relentlessly about the ninjas and ferraris, gossip about the latest chick in the block and to top it all, whistle at one. There was  brief hiatus to these fun session when I turned 15 as it was time to join the famous "BITS, EAMCET, AIEEE and IITJEE" bandwagon. And during the engineering days the innocent sessions of gully cricket were replaced by bunking classes and hitchhiking on tippers, thanks to the infinite distances one had to travel with no regular modes of transportation except for an occasional RTC bus. In addition to these I learnt how to swear like a true Hyderabadi in three different languages and their myriad slangs. Organizing midnight birthday parties was also a major challenge as we had to research the most unusual places in Hyderabad. Sometimes it was Maisamma temple, Secunderabad Airport runway or the road divider on telugu thalli flyover that became our midnight adda. We were never let down by the road side vendors who at these wee hours always succeeded to cater the  best of bread omelets in Hyderabad. This was the age of Mamas' and Chichas' and we were the invincible, chanting  the "Aisich kaaman karre tho paapular hothe' anthem, oblivious to growing concerns over global warming, inflation and recession . This was also the time when I learnt how to fall in love with myself and continue to do so.   After 23 years, this self proclaimed tomboy called me has learnt to be not only an achiever but also a survivor. 


And until next time....keep saying "Dil pe mat le yaar...haath mein le".