Big Foot and Big Step

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: Indian parents are an epitome of sexism and intense drama. In their eyes, a daughter is supposed to stay put at home.  If she so much as goes out with her girlfriends, they have only one fear – What if she has a boyfriend and what if she’s going out with him instead? 

Alright, maybe not ALL Indian parents. But mine are an epitome of the sexist and dramatic type, in epic proportions! Everytime I say I am going out, my mother’s hair stands up in a frizzy shock, and my father’s fat moustache gets ready to crackle with electricity. And then they slaughter me with innumerable number of questions (Where are you going? Who’re you going with? What time will you reach there? Will all three of your friends be there? What time will you be back? How are you going – auto or bus or two-wheeler?). No kidding. Some 
severe headache and dry mouth later (from 
answering all the questions separately to my 
father, mother, and granny twice or thrice each), 
I bolt from the house…

Today, I told my mother I am going for a lunch tomorrow with my girlfriends. The look on her face… You would think I kissed some ‘roadside-Romeo’ right in front her! Anyway, the last time I went on a trip with my girlies to Chikmagalur, my parents decided they should get me ‘married away’ after I came back (nice try, parents!). Well, as to what they might have assumed I was doing there, I will leave that to your imagination…

Now think of my torment if I’ve got to tell them that I’m going off on a solo trip to Coorg next weekend! Don’t you worry, I am gonna put my Big Foot down, and stand my ground, like I always have. You see, my choices, decisions, and actions in life ("big steps") have never been short of The Big Foot Battle. As for the encounter ahead... Well, let’s just say George Martin’s Westeros seems like a fairytale land to me right now.