When you’re twenty-six, an Indian, a girl and still unmarried you kind of get used to people nodding their heads and sympathetically saying, ‘Oh so you are not married’.

I have been told the above by an assortment of people (relatives, family-friends, new acquaintances, taxi-drivers, etc) in a variety of situations (at weddings, funerals, pubs, parties, etc). But nothing prepared me for what happened yesterday. Yesterday, a travel agent nodded his head dolefully and said, ‘Oh so you are not married’.

It seems two kinds of people find it difficult to get a visa- terrorists (I really don’t think terrorists apply for visas but never mind!) and ‘unmarried’ single women. Bah!