Battles of Panipat

Chasing the good life: on being single, edited by Bhaichand Patel; New Delhi: Penguin Viking; 2006; Rs. 325; pp. 188.

But in between the battles there are periods of hard-earned rest, even high-spirited jinks. The writings are, by and large, lucid, funny and perceptive. Also, this being India, 'single' here means not just the person who has never married, but anybody living alone: widowers, widows, those who are divorced, even a 'married single' woman with an IAS husband doing his tours of duty in remote administrative provinces. Singlehood's most attractive quality, according to editor Bhaichand Patel (a popular columnist for Indian newspapers) "is the pleasure of waking up in the morning without someone next to me. To get up and not have to make conversation is absolute bliss." This is the refrain over and over again. Khushwant Singh, for example, in a marvelously cranky article, says "I like to have my sundowners all by myself... I never go to cocktail parties because there one has to mix good single malts with tasteless blends of small talk." Novelist Farookh Dhondy (author of Bombay Duck) meditates on D.H. Lawrence, Engels, singleness and the nature of illusion, while at the other end Kanika Gahlat divides the Delhi single woman's men friends as "either potential (a) Phone friends, or (b) ---- friends." Take your pick.

And by the way, for the edification of all of us miserable married readers out there, the term of choice is apparently not 'single,' not anymore, it's not even 'partner,' but 'singleton.'

Farid Khan is an occasional contributor to The Daily Star literature page.