Thursday, January 16, 2014

16th January 2014

Today was a memorable day. I happened to go hopping around the malls with Rueben an old friend who would tie the knot soon. I remember the times when I used to be a companion on the wedding shopping trips of women friends about to get hitched. Although most of those used to bore me out as shopping for other women never scored a point with me. Maybe that meant the venting of jealousy for not being able to wear that kind of shimmery and stylish apparel or it maybe it was the expression of boredom arising out of wearing and shopping for everything feminine.
This time around it was a different story. Rueben, Judith's brother Judith is my friend from the church wanted me to do the honours of selecting his wedding suit. He is slated to go shopping with his family once he decides about what he wanted to buy. And I was the person who had to help him in making a decision as he wanted to wear the same color as his bride and he was in need of a second opinion. Before this I had been an accomplice with Judith to her wedding shopping. The idea of wearing clothes of the same color went well with her and the sister too smitten by the thought decided to also take me along. And I thought I will have a disinterested and bored guy hopping around with me and Judith all through the evening while I will be struggling to pick the best of tapestry for his big day. Contrary to my perceptions, this guy was a black sheep from the men folk. Or have we really jumped the gun and stereotyped men as bad shoppers? The manner in which he squiggled through the hangers and stacks of clothing made me wonder as to whether, did he really need my help to dress up for the D day. Many of the times his queries were directed at matching the cuts and colors of his clothes with that of his bride's. Perhaps, that was why I was asked to be a convoy on this shopping trip of his.



After clearing most of his doubts about clothes and how a bride and groom can dress with in the same colours, we sat down for a cup of coffee. He discussed his plans for the wedding with animated anxiety which showed the other face of the coin to me. The dreams and desires of a man for his big day.
We took leave and the siblings thanked me for spending my time and patience to help the groom make his choices in clothing. And with this rendezvous, I decided to laugh off the stereotype that accuses men of being bad impatient shoppers.
Isn't it high time that we rid ourselves of gender sterotypes that are nowhere close to reality?

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