11. Tomboy. Because it's so much easier.

Me and the roommate went shopping this week. You know, some girl- girl bonding. Seeing as she's leaving and all. We went to those stores where we would spend evenings and money. And to those stores where we wanted to spend evenings and time, but not money. Which include clothing stores (but ofcourse.) You see, the roommate, unlike me,is a regular, normal girl. By which I mean, she is not a tomboy. So she buys pretty girl clothes. And for some strange reason, I think I wanted to be girl pretty for a while too. I suppose I wanted to "attract" boys. But you know, I've had a fair share of boys by just being me, and those are the kind of boys I like anyway. Boys who like girl-girls are weird. Anyway, point being, I have girl clothes now. Dresses. And skirts. They're pretty. I put them on and plopped on my couch and ate cheese sticks while watching America's Next Top Model. It made me feel like I did when I was a kid and amma would dress me in a sari and I would pretend to be a mami making dosai (except for the America's Next Top Model part, of course). I wondered why I hadn't tried this before.

So. These girl clothes. They have pink on them. And frills. And flowers. And no sleeves. I realized, right the day I put on this one summery dress (Yes. I used the word "summery". As an adjective. For clothes. You have to do things like that when you put on a dress. It's in the contract.) that the reason I stuck to pants and boy t-shirts was this: they are just so much lesser work. There is just so many things you have to do to properly pull off a girl outfit.

First, those things vary widely with occasion. Until now, I had two types of clothes: regular clothes - consisting of pants and whatever shirt I happened to be able to get my hands on; and formals- pants and a clean, pressed, button down shirt. But these girl clothes? They are different for being "professional", "formal (during the day)", "formal (in the evening)", "formal (at dinner and later)", "formal(at a party)", "party", "evening", "shopping", "coffee" and all other sundry events/beverages/random-english-words-that-have-no-business-being-an-adjective-for-clothes. (Seriously- cocktail "dress"? Cocktails are drinks, people. Make sense.) So you need that many different kinds of girl clothes.

Second, apart from the clothes themselves being pricey, there are companion spendings also required. For starters, the girl clothes have no pockets. I'm a pocket person. Every time I have to leave the house, I pat my sides to check if I have my wallet, id, phone and keys in my pockets. I literally count "1,2,3,4" in my head, and I'm out. No bags. Definitely no purses. I don't even own a purse. So this day, when I'm out in this 'summery' dress, I had to carry these in my hand. But I realized, half an hour after I had left home, that I didn't have my phone with me. And I came to terms with the fact that if I need to wear girl clothes, I will need to have a purse. Additional expense #1.This is when the roommate asks me "Are you going to get just one? If you're not going to buy more than one, you should get something that is neutral". So there. Not just purse. Purses. More spending. Then I find out that all this extra fitting doesn't stop with a purse. You need to accessorize. Shoes. I own a pair of sneakers, a pair of running shoes, a pair of leather slip ons, a pair of beach sandals and this one pair of black slippers. I think that's already too many shoes to have. But it turns out that only the slippers "can be worn with a dress, and even that, just barely". I need to buy girl shoes to go with the girl clothes. Earrings. Necklaces. Watches. All girl type things. And all expensive.

But the worst of it all, is the fact that these clothes stop at the knees.Or just below the knees. Or waay above the knees (In the last case, you can't even sit down. Unless you're wearing tights underneath the clothes. Or, in my case, bicycle shorts. I'm not spending anymore.). You know what that means right? (Queasy type boys, you might want to look away. I'm going to actually say it, out here, out loud. You have been warned) You have to constantly shave your legs. Or savagely pull out hairs from the roots. Or burn them away with nasty smelling goop. Everyday. Every week. Every month. More time, more money. More bending, more spending. Foul stenches. Razor nicks.Gaaah!

I am done trying to be girl pretty. I have the clothes. I will wear them with earrings and high heels, put on a flowery apron and walk around the kitchen flipping pancakes, singing '50s Hollywood songs and generally being Donna Reed. Or when I'm trying to get some boy's attention. But otherwise, I'm happy in my styleless tomboy clothes. Boys, next time a girl takes forever to get ready, give her the time.Trust me. take my word for it. It's not easy. And girl-girls, I have a new found respect for you. Or a newfound disdain. I'm not sure which, yet.