Diary,
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare says, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” Or something like that. It’s been a while since I read the book in high school, but my point stands — I don’t think the bard got it right on this one.
I’ve been offered an all-expenses-paid trip to take part in a study focusing on bachelors and the reasons they opt to stay single. That might sound good, but the study is taking place in India. Of all places!
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the most populous country in the world, but there are other much better places to go on such a trip. Like the Maldives, Mauritius or even Thailand.
I’ve never been to India, but its reputation isn’t squeaky clean, pun intended. You see, some of my friends who’ve been there say that a large part of the population poops on the streets. An urban myth purports that Gandhi told people to ruin the environment for the British as part of a peaceful resistance to colonial rule.
The main reason though, is rooted in a past caste system that had lower caste people work as toilet cleaners. That’s how they grew an aversion to having toilets inside their houses since they were considered “unclean”. But hey, it’s more than a billion people. That’s enough toilets to bankrupt a nation.
Whatever the case, it doesn’t sound like the first choice where one should take a holiday, expenses-paid or not. I also think there’s a cruel reason why they are holding the event at Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.
Many people don’t know that the beautiful building is basically a tomb built by a king for his wife. Historians call it an “architectural love letter” because every part of its design, symbolism and engineering was created to express Shah Jahan’s profound grief and devotion to his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
I beg to differ. Before we talk love and all that, someone tell me how Emperor Jahan and his wife lived before she died at childbirth. This may sound cruel, but maybe he built it to celebrate being single again. And if indeed it is love personified, why would anything think it’s the best place for bachelors to visit?
The way I see it, this is not a symposium on bachelorhood as much as it is an attempt at conversion therapy. I think what they want to do is tell us how good love is that by the time we come back home, we’ll jump into the arms of the first woman we meet. I’m not buying it.
But am I going on the trip? Hell, yeah! What kind of a fool would I be to turn down an all-expenses-paid trip to the City of Love?
