Fairer Sex

• NAME : Not known

• AGE : Between 25 to 35

• LOCATION : V9 Bus

• GENDER : Male (XY chromosome)

• ETHNICITY : Probably North Indian

CONTEXT : I got a call from work while I was hanging on to an almost unreachable handhold in the middle of the bus. My TL who is also a species of the XX Chromosome wanted to discuss about the progress of my SSL implementation in WPS 8.5 server. It was supposed to be a fresh installation. [For all the non-techie people I apologize profusely]. Hearing me talk over the phone a not so bad looking guy appreciatively looks at me and the following conversation happens. 

XY : You're the first person of the fairer sex that I've heard talking about LDAP and SSL.

Me : That seems unlikely. There are lots of women in the profession.

XY :  You are probably aware of it because you are somehow related to technology or aware of it. Let alone women, I doubt if most men care about websites with SSL and make payment with credit cards . It is surprising to find a woman who knows and talk about it with so much confidence.

Me (I got one of my crazy thoughts which I just said out loud) : "Fairer Sex". I wonder why this term was coined ? Is it for the colour of the skin of the general XX chromosomes. (Seems unlikely and frankly biased). Perhaps it is because of the judgement capability of majority of the XX chromosomes species. 

XY : I really don't know or care why the term 'fairer sex' was coined. I just find it that sounds better than calling someone 'female' - that's just rude.

Me (I felt that he was trying to be nice but that answer "slightly" rubbed me the wrong way) : Why is it assumed that more men will know about SSL and women wont ? Why is calling someone 'female' rude? Is calling someone 'male' rude ? Why is 'BE LIKE A MAN' a positive advice ? And simultaneously 'YOU ARE BEING SUCH A WOMAN' is always perceived in the derogatory sense? 

XY : I don't know and frankly I don't care to comment on why certain things are generally acceptable in society and others aren't. Maybe you should take it up for your next doctoral thesis. 

Me : Tell me what do you do care about ? Leaving your seat for a woman or the elderly is also generally acceptable in society and infact considered commendable.Never seen you caring about that either.  


After this conversation it was obviously not prudent to ask him if I could take a picture.

But every step of the way I am amazed as to how derogatory comments about women are ingrained in our society. 

Also this apparently is the reason why I will be single for the rest of eternity. Because even when a guy is trying to make conversation with me I find things such as this(read Kolkata is full of sexist "male") and turn off like 1990 Kolkata electricity supply. 

Avijit and Biswajit

It is 21st December. Park Street is all decked up in carnival finery. Me and my friends were walking down towards Allen Park when I spot these two guys They were standing in front of Veda. They caught my eye because they seemed to be silently observing everyone. As if there is some secret known to only the two of them.

Two homo sapiens of the XY chromosomal variety had already said no to me. So needless to say I was quite nervous. I have also been getting suspicious glances because I have been telling my friends that " I need a man for my project." or " I need to use a man for my project." What I meant was that after two lovely women, I wanted to feature a man's perspective of things.

• Name : Avijit
• AGE : 30
• PROFESSION : Kolkata Police Person
• Ethnicity : Bengali

Me : Tell me something funny that you might have encountered in your work ?

A : There is nothing funny in my line of work. It is always dangerous.

Me : There is nothing funny ??

A : No.Nothing. It is always serious.

Me : What extra measure is Kolkata Police taking for the safety of women during the carnival ?

A : There are police posts at regular intervals

Me : Is there a reason that you are not in police gear ?

A : What can I say? I am not allowed to say it. [ At this point I am thinking that if he is in plain clothes to be undercover why did he divulge his actual profession? ]

Me : What is the one thing being in the police force has taught you?

A : I really cant tell you.

Me : Random Life Experience ?

A : I don't really think of life so much !

Me : Do you think about Death then ?

A : (In a really surprised and shocked tone) Death ?

After this I stopped asking A questions rather disappointed. It was clear that I will not get anything interesting out of him. And he had so much potential. He could have been a goldmine of interesting shocking unbelievable tales.

• NAME : Biswajit
• AGE : 30
• PROFESSION : Senior Bartender
• ETHNICITY : Bengali

Me :   So you have an unconventional job ? Why did you choose this job ? And you don't have anything confidential so if you can please tell me.
B : I have always wanted to do this. I studied Hotel management and then joined this job . This is such a happy job . This is like Happy Hours all the time. When the bartender is happy, the guests are happy.
Me :   So tell me something fun that has been happening ?
B : The fact that a novel idea such as the winter carnival is happening in Kolkata is fun. The reason behind this is Karan Paul and Apeejay Group, owner of Park Hotel. This is his initiative. The place brightens up with youngsters coming here to enjoy themselves. I enjoy seeing them enjoy.
Me : You know how we see in movies, some dude gets extremely drunk and then pours his heart out to the bartender. Has something like that happened to you?
At this point A chimes in that if anyone tried that with him he would have taken the poor soul to jail. To which I reply, that is why no one will tell him.
B : I had this guest and every night he would come down to drink at the bar with his girlfriend. After he would get drunk he would suddenly realize that his girlfriend is nowhere to be spotted. The girlfriend would already have gone away with someone else.
Me : Tell me something, some unexpected incident that has happened with you ?
At this point A chimes in , " You doing this, talking to us is unexpected. This has never happened before. "