Don’t befriend these five quirky kinds, my little girl
Rajkumari Sharma Tankha
As my daughter is all set to leave the sheltered school and join college, as a mom, my worries have multiplied manifold. It is not just about using public transport, reaching home in late evenings but also about the kind of friends she will have. At Shiv Niketan, New Delhi and the Army Public School, Noida where she studied, most of her friends and school mates belonged to our social background and had similar value system as us.
College is going to be a different ball game altogether. It will have students from diverse family backgrounds, may have strikingly different value systems, dress sense, food habits etc etc. This concerns me, but what worries me the most about the kind of people she will make friends, especially the boys! Why, because there is a certain tribe of boys I cannot stand eye to eye, and what will happen if my daughter ends up making friends with those very kinds. It scares me. So these days, I mince no words in telling her NOT to make friends with the following five kinds, come what may I shall not approve of them:
The stud boy: I often see boys wearing studs in one or both ears. Some odd ones I have noticed wearing a stud near the eye-brow. I am aghast. I know, this was a once a fashion among males, but not anymore. We are living in 21 century. Right! Whatever it is, I simply cannot stand boys wearing any kind of jewellery.
The Mohawk hairstyle boy: I prefer boys who keep normal hairstyle. I find those who keep a military cut the most decent ones (may be because my dad and hubby as also the rest of males in my family and friend circle keep short hair). Boys these days experiment a lot with their hair, while I can somehow adjust with a little long hair (no no, not with ponytails and muns), a Mohawk hairstyle is a big no-no. To me the boys with Mohawk look like a rooster, and that’s an animal!
The bearded boy: I don’t know if it is due to cricketers or film stars, I see most boys keeping unkempt beards. Ewww….how unimpressive they look!. Or shall I say sluggish. A little stubble is fine, but nothing beyond, please.
The half-pant boy: While I understand it is pretty warm weather, but who goes to college wearing half-pants. While travelling in Delhi Metro, I see college-going boys in shorts, made of jeans and sometimes even hosiery material, and I wonder how, on the earth, do their parents allow them? Or do they change their attire after coming out of home (using public washrooms) the way girls in my time used to do in empty U-specials. I have no idea. But I simply abhor this trend.
The slippers’ boy: This is another kind. Why should boys wear slippers to college or malls, I fail to understand. I am sure all of you guys who wear branded jeans and shirts, carry branded bags can afford a decent pair of shoes. Slippers, even if they are branded (I see some wearing crocs, adidas, nike or levis) look CHEAP when worn outside your homes. Understand.
