Singular

First the facts - I am 24, average looking, more or less sweet, fun loving, single, working woman...I love to spend time with friends and dogs, have 'intellectual' discussions about things in general, brood over where life is heading, occasionally and ritually question my decisions and wonder 'who am I?'...nothing a normal 24 year old doesn't do...but out of these there are 2 things for which I particularly get surprised reactions -

"24?? You look like you are in school!!"

Yeah, I am sorry auntie!! I know this must be really embarrassing for you...its not often that you meet a five feet nothing midget who is earning! But you know what? Its my DNA that controls me, not the other way round...if your daughter looks like she is the mother of a 4 year old, even though she is actually 15, that’s not exactly my problem...now, is it!? My mother also forced me to gulp down 2 glasses of milk everyday and I did do some stretching exercises...but as you can see, it didn't work! I am tiny and I always will be...but not tiny enough to play house with your kids...really!

"Single?! Oh,cmon...its ok if you don't want to tell!"

What is like to be single at 24?? Well, its pretty normal - going to office, eating out, partying with friends, shopping, internet, TV...you know the works...except that, you come to realize that you are a minority and that people presume a thousand things about you...you are not in a gang of giggly 19 year olds, sitting in the college canteen (sorry, cafe, in my case!), discussing the desirable characteristics of our respective dream lovers...now, the situation is that the gang is pretty much just you! And what you don't realize is that the only one who finds the whole situation ok, is you!! For everyone else, the dream lovers are quite real now, or so they say...and this whole scenario is not true for men...I have many eligible male friends who are single but there are many of them...and in my own circle, I am the only woman who is not involved with any man, in any way...

I still remember my mom's warning when I was 17 and eager to go to college -"if I come to know about any hanky-panky stuff about you, I’ll call you back home"!! The fact the I was going to an institution with about 2000 more women quite escaped her...seriously, for the 3 years that I was in college I had no interaction with anything manlike except the admin staff...umm, hardly the epitome of pulchritudinous masculinity!! But its really funny when I see my mother now...she is pretty convinced that I'll start going out with one or the other of my friends and I am feeling shy about discussing it! She even keeps hinting that I should go ahead and decide on some guy!! The whole thing gets aggravated when I mention my other female friends who are in relationships...I should stop doing that!! Sometimes, I just want to go ahead and tell her that I am actually a closet lesbian...just to see her expression...and take revenge for all the years she has been trying to keep me away from men!! Hehe...

But the most bugging part of my situation is the reactions I get from strangers and acquaintances!! They just can not seem to grasp the fact that anyone like me can not have a boyfriend...I mean, guys, seriously, its flattering...thank you very much...but really, just let it be...I am normal, I do like men, I think romance is wonderful, everything is good...and everyone is not up for sale...