Genesis: In the beginning there was me!

This is the Desi Bridget Jone’s diary and I am the original Desi Bridget Jones. My name is Brigit and my surname is a version of Jones and I’m Desi! So all you wannabe’s – stay away lest you face my copyright wrath! I’m named after my paternal grandmother in case you’re wondering where I got the name Brigit from.

Well, I first started the Desi bridget Jones diary around 10 years back when I was in my early 30’s – same age as the main character in Helen Fielding’s much publicised book “Bridget Jones Diary”. I was a singleton and identified with the main character – not to mention we shared our names. My first diary was a blog with all my views on women, work and life. It was started mainly because my colleague, Bhasker (Bless him!) couldn’t stand my whining on and on about how corporate life sucked for women. “Why don’t you write it all down?!” he once exclaimed in exasperation and he helped set me up on a blog. And then he got his much needed respite for I poured out all my meandering thoughts onto that blog – which incidentally (ahem!) made it to the Rediffblog’s “sizzling blogs” list. I was extremely touched when people actually read my stuff and said they liked it ( wow!). I’ll never forget the soul ( God bless you wherever you are!) who said he took printouts of my blog to read over the weekend. Needless to say, all those kind people helped me believe that I had something worthwhile to say and said it well – even though I was doing nothing more than sharing my views on life while I searched for “the one” (aka Mr. Darcy).

Well Darcy came with the wedding bells and then left - thank heavens! – As you can see there are a lot of phrases sent to the Big Boss upstairs – put this down to my catholic upbringing that I’ve never quite been able to shake off. But I digress, so here we are 10 years later, I’m in my early 40’s wondering what the heck happened. Where did the happily ever dream that you grew up with as a little girl disappear? And if you’re in India and a woman (God save you!) and if you’re not married (add the archangels to that list of folks to save you!) then you’re a blot on your family honour. As a single woman in the 40's  you’re not just over the hill, you’re over the clouds and knocking on heaven's door!

I needn’t go into the details of all the ways my relatives insinuate that I am “less than” since I’m a single woman even though I’m more qualified and probably earn more than their sons . Ah well, such is the lot of the Indian woman especially in small time towns.

But I digress yet again (I think age is catching up with me!)  - I believe Helen Fielding is writing another Bridget Jones Diary, a sequel – which means this is just the right time for the Desi Bridget Jones Diary to resurface, this time on blogpost. (Why oh why google has thou made life so difficult for tech-ignoramus’ like me?!)

I’m going to share my view of the world and love - seen through my not so rosy colored spectacles. Bridget Jones is single, looking for love (some things never change even after 10 years) and likes to believe she’s smart! (Yes, dear Lord, we will blow our own trumpet once in a while). She has her own share of frailties and in her journey maybe you will find a bit of yourself too.