Ana Desai, B.E in comp science, 9.6 CGPA.

I grinned to myself while washing the utensils. Tomorrow I'm leaving for the USA. I whooped mentally. It was my first time out of Bangalore.

Like, first EVER.

ALONE.

I had to suppress the excitement I felt at that. I wonder how it will be. Will I have a roommate? Will I learn something for a change? I swear, the entire four years of my B.E course was basically mugging textbooks on the day before the finals. Hey, it worked. 9.6 CGPA.

Yep, my parents were proud.

I think my mother would have placed speakers all over the world and yelled my CGPA into the microphone. *sigh* If only it wasn't frowned upon. She still has the my-daughter-scored-a-lot-and-she-is-doing-her-further-studies-in-USA look. My father, well, he's always been proud of me. It wasn't everyday that a girl in the family does further studies. It was actually pretty rare. Usually, the girl finishes her B.Com, diploma or B.E and gets married to a random stranger chosen by her parents. It was pretty weird. Your entire life you're told about 'stranger danger', and then when you become 22, you're made to marry a random stranger.

I was determined to stand on my own two feet. Besides, I needed time to adjust with a person. I needed to get familiar with the person. Unfortunately, Indian culture doesn't allow the girl and her fiancee to spend time with each other. It was one meeting, and then, "So? You liked him? You'll get married to him?" How on earth do you judge a guy's character in one meeting. And how on earth does the guy accept your hand in marriage when he has no clue who you are. What if you're a total bitch? What if you were a murdering psychopath?

Fine. So you get married. What if he turns out to be a murdering psychopath himself? Or what if he had a harem tucked away, and no one except him knew? What if he loved someone else? I guess the answer to that would be, get a divorce.

Fine. So now you're a divorcee. You feel that everything is fine, and you continue with your normal routine. Then you realize that people are talking behind your back. Stuff like, "Maybe she wasn't a virgin, that's why the marriage didn't work." or "Maybe they couldn't conceive a kid. Yep. Something must be wrong with the girl." Because of course women are mere baby-producing machines. And the back-bitching turns to laughter and then rumors, until, finally, you can't live with yourself. Then comes the self-hatred. I'd love to say the world is changing, but I for one, haven't seen it happen yet.

Want to get remarried? Ha! Who will marry a divorcee? She's already been 'violated'.

Too many complications.

This was the reason I never want to get married, but I knew it wasn't possible. My parents were going to force it on my head if I stayed in India. Now if I moved, say to the USA for further studies, I could postpone my ever-approaching marriage date.

I'd even tried this, "How about when I become 30?" "No! 30 is too old. No one will marry you!" "Love marriage?" "Inter-caste marriage? I will disown you!" "Fine. 27?" "NO! When you're around 22-24. That's final. Women beyond 25 lose their charm. No one will marry them."

Like, seriously?

What the fuck. Three words to describe a typical Indian girl's life.

By the way, Indians do NOT have innocent minds. Well, okay, slightly innocent when compared to others. Okay! A lot innocent! The rumors are true. We're almost all virgins till we get married. And there are many people who don't watch porn. A few of us are too shy to use 'fuck', 'shit', 'sex' and other words.

We're also very hardworking. Mainly because the society thrives on success. Daughters are educated till a certain level and then married off. Criteria for being accepted as a daughter-in-law:

1) From a good family

2) Has good looks

3) Has educational qualifications up to a certain level

4) Can cook exceptionally well (mother-in-law may even test you when the guy's family comes to meet you)

5) The most important one, having a fair complexion

I can't claim that men have better lives than women. Definitely not. Being forced to take up Engineering/MBBS just because you can earn more, and get married to a girl who meets expectations placed by the society/family, YIKES. And that's not counting the fact that certain women take advantage of the rights given to them so as to get some sort of compensation from guys. The sad part is that people believe the woman, and the guy gets punished.

Bigger problem, you never know who's telling the truth.

Without further ado, I bid you welcome to my world. *frustrated sigh*

So now you get why I'm so proud and awesome.

I'm going to stay in a place other than Bangalore!

ALONE!

FIRST.TIME.EVER!

*squeals loudly and jumps from sofa to dining table to sofa like Spiderman*