I deserve a special place amongst the most shameless* blokes that ever have walked this planet for what happened today, just a little while ago.

Zeenat has actually set up a ,what she calls, ‘date’ for me, later on this month. This ‘date’ is the daughter of so-and-so who is a friend of so-and-so and so on and so forth.

I told her that it is extremely kind of her to set me up with a date and BTB,I asked, if it indeed is a ‘date’- then why is she worried about the day of the week, day of the month, time of the day, Ammavaasai and so on..? ( i caught her red handed, chatting away on the phone, calendar in hand, with an aunt)

She promptly burst into crocodile tears and her sidekick, MB, appears and delivers this poker faced, stern-dont-mess-with-me style lecture etc. while ive laughed it all off.

I am considering telling Zeenat that i am in Love with Anamaria (Fa’s assistant in Sao Paolo) and we’ll be officially seeking permission soon – or better still – that i am still in two minds if i am straight or gay. Believe me, She’ll then provide enough material to make a movie as long as all the 3 parts of the Lord of the Rings combined.

It is sort of sad that i have such manipulative, strong-willed parents.

We’re all – im quite sure - one way or the other – hapless victims of parental manipulation, no ?

(*Why ‘Shameless’ one might ask – well, one does feel kind of corny when one’s mother actually sets up something - that she has the gall to refer to - as a ‘date’. eh ?)

P.S – I was just telling MB that a good writer of masalafied behaviorial theories, maybe Gladwell, if permitted, will end up with a bestselling masterpiece analyzing the behavioural patterns of Zeenat & Co – and we’ll all be that much richer with the share of royalties from the book.