NO PINK SCREWDRIVERS

Girl – Yo sup man? 
Guy- Not much dude you? 
Girl- Doing great but those stupid girly people are giving me crap again 
Guy- That sucks man!!!

Long time ago, in the last decade, I knew of a young girl who would rather be playing football in the rain than be out shopping and boy hunting, hanged out with boys, didn’t care about what other people think of her, nor did she judge others for the way they were, very sporty, and did not follow the latest fashion trends, did not make fun of what most people would call ” nerds ” or ” geeks “, and in fact befriended them most of the time.

She was a girl who would pick digging up worms and climbed tree in her backyard rather than going shopping at a mall. She used to hang out and get along with boys rather than fellow girls. She was boystrous and used to have a lot of fun. She didn’t care what to wear for the day, usually wore jeans, pants and baggy clothes without any pink or feminine colours on it. She would prefer gaming over make-up or jewellery, sports over shopping, tennis shoes over high-heeled or ‘cute’ shoes, wear baseball caps rather than hats on her scraggly hair. She was a lot better than girly people, she was for sure strong, could actually fight, was into sports, she acted like boys and that made life much easier. She would roll in mud rather than nail polish any day and when it comes to popularity, didn’t use words like, OMG, totally, and IM talk at all, didn’t take ages to get ready for anything, the best kind of feeling being on earth.

Her behaviour was free from the restriction of unwritten societal gender rules. She was a tomboy by instinct and choice. She was intolerant of bullies and tended to step in to balance uneven situations, warrior-like in an honourable way.

But despite all of the above qualities she had a best friend too. They were like Miss Independent and Miss Romantic. You might have guessed by now who was the best friend. I always use to say “I like boys on skateboards and girls on swings.” And every time she used to say the same thing, “Let’s climb the trees, it’s better than going to and fro in the air.” We have spent the most beautiful and wondrous moments of our lives together but I always wished something more like GIRL for her.

Will ever a day would come,

When others opinions will start to matter, when she will finally understand the difference between a kajal and mascara, when her tennis shoes will spend more time in the shoe shelf. I really wish she dumps her t-shirts in the garbage and shops for halter necks. A day will definitely come when traditional dress will be something more than “kurti” and jeans, when she will turn to “Femina” magazine before the sports section of the newspaper, when she will ask me for advice on lip gloss, when “If you go away” will come before “Burning in hell ” on her playlist.

I can’t wait for the day when she will want to look beautiful and will make conscious efforts for it, when she will buy those uncomfortable heels rather than trustworthy floaters, when she will take interest in the kitchen, when she will miss her train because her hair didn’t turn the way she wanted them to, when she no longer will mock at girls who take hours to get ready. In her life a time will come when she will start flirting with her flinches, when she will feel it is “ok” to cry in front of everyone, when the first word that will come to her mind about boyfriend is not “YUCK!!!”.

P.S.: dedicated to the most wonderful friend I have ever met. I love her and she is my best friend forever…

Monalisa Sethi