Love me or loathe me

Friends and family dish out sage advice on handling a 'boy-seeing' session, but Sumana B Jayanth insists on doing it her way

Love me or loathe me

Friends and family dish out sage advice on handling a 'boy-seeing' session, but Sumana B Jayanth insists on doing it her way

Everybody gets to hear them ever so often. Before job interviews and on first dates, while giving exams or before meeting prospective partners. Just Be Yourself. The words echo in my head all the time.

Ironically, most people ask me not to be myself, lest I scare the "boy" who's come to have a dekko at me. I get pearls of wisdom like, "Don't use big words and scare him off," "Don't make fun of anybody," "Maybe you should tone down the bitchiness a bit," and "Don't be sarcastic and intimidating, you know don't be all that's you."

A quick survey of my immediate social circle reveals that people think I'm loud, abrasive, sarcastic, caustic, cynical, overbearing, domineering, intelligent (oh thank you, sweet Mary!), high-maintenance, blunt, attractive (despite all this, apparently), not as cool as I think I am, evil, fun, weird, a hard-a#$ed feminist and if one ex-colleague is to be believed, barely a woman at all.

At a party, this pal once cracked a guy joke, looked at me, patted me on my back and said almost wistfully, "Wish you were a woman, Su!"

An overwhelming majority of people also assure me that I shouldn't worry because I 'will' find a guy, who will tolerate me. I am inclined to agree, because, if so many people are saying it, then there simply must be a guy out there who is intelligent, attractive,u00a0 charming and nice, who is actually a closet emotional psycho because he prefers sarcastic, bitchy feminists who are high-maintenance and weird.

So here I am, standing tall and proud because I am just being myself.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels