Excuse me...I am a girl!

I do not know if anyone has had similar experiences but I am going to brave it through. As a child having been born into a family of boys I dressed, acted and looked one. But as I grew older and my body got a mind of its own, the thrill of being mistaken for a boy was getting jaded. While I still had shortish hair, for heaven sake I even wore studs on my ears and still people mistook me for a guy. It gets a little annoying when your father's friend comes home and talks to the whole family for an hour or so and then muses " but Umapathy I thought you had two daughters". Time to leave the room or just sit there and laugh like a hyena, either way my pride left the room in a hurry.

I get into an auto and instruct the man to take me to Egmore. He retorts ' Enna time aachu thambi" I am stunned. Didn't he hear my voice? Oh well I play along because lesser chances of him kidnapping me or something. But when I stepped into the ladies compartment on a commuter train and this old lady gruffly informs me " this is ladies compartment" I really could have done her a favour. But I give a stiff grin and say "I know" afterall no reason to behave unladylike right?

Nowadays the problem has all but disappeared, mainly because guys have started growing their hair and people are a little more careful when they address youngsters . After a few months of being treated like a lady I went to my friend's house for lunch. His grandparents were visiting him and I joined his parents and his grandparents for the meal. It was a delightful two hours of laughter and anecdotes. Two months later my friend sounding a sheepish calls me up and tells me his grandparents had called and asked about me. I was thrilled " wow they actually remebered me?" "Yeah" he retorted "they remembered you alright, they just forgot you were a girl".