The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai's single women

Mumbai is clearly the best choice for single women. Being a city that is not only safe but also a haven for multifarious activities, it gives single women a lot of scope for entertainment.

Varsha Rokde has a packed schedule. Her position as the secretary of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa can be likened to that of a CEO. She enjoys her job and is able to devote most of her energy to it. Yet, at the end of a long day, Varsha does not hesitate in catching up with the world, notwithstanding the fact that she stays 34 km from her place of work. "These days I am studying for LLM. That takes up much of my time. But yet I do not hesitate walking along D.N. Road scouring for second-hand books to read," she says.

She opted to stay single and is clearly making the best of it. In a multi-cultural, multi-layered city like Mumbai, there is enough and more for everyone — single or otherwise — to participate in. Mumbai is clearly the best choice for single women. One might call this a simplistic view. But the fact remains that the city is not only safe but also a haven for multifarious activities. Much of the socialising takes place during the process of these activities as the concept of a weekend is limited to a Sunday. If one is desirous of going beyond routine, it becomes essential to learn to weave in everything during the week.

"I do most of my reading on the train," says Varsha. Mumbaites' compulsion to commute long distances to work does offer opportunities to catch up on reading, sleeping or simply marshalling one's thoughts. But Varsha does not want to get swamped by Mumbai's killing routine. She is planning to go parasailing and maybe paragliding some day in the future.

If Varsha has opted for the outdoors, Vidya Devarajan has chosen to enliven her mind through a foreign language. She has enrolled herself in a three-year course in Russian offered by the Bombay University. As Vidya's work involves travel through the city, she sets aside time to catch up on reading or for an evening of theatre. Her Sundays are taken up for the Russian course. "I definitely think I have an advantage over my married friends when it comes to doing what I want," she says.

Mumbai's commuter trains have offered yet another avenue for women to make friends. Train friends, as they are referred to, have a schedule that remains untouched by home or workplace. They go out to see films, meet for dinner and sometimes travel to a holiday destination or they may even go for swimming lessons together.

Vedanti works in a call centre but cannot wait for the weekend to pack her bags and go off to nearby destinations. She is not too keen on partying as some of her colleagues are. She would rather head for the nearby touristy spots or follow a nature trail.

If a vast majority of Mumbai's women choose to go to pubs, discos and cinema houses, there is a small group that either tags along with the Bombay Natural History Society on its nature trails into the Sanjay Gandhi National Park or join adventure clubs to go trekking over the sprawling Sahyadri mountain range.

Doreen D'Sa is one such regular trekker. Her interest in the outdoors prompted her to give up a nine-to-five job and start her own eco tour business. She has been organising a number of trips into national parks across India and her clientele includes many single women. Doreen's knowledge of birds also is also an interesting travel partner.

For single women with the initiative to do something other than routine, there is never a dearth of ideas or activities. With the emergence of multiplexes and a new breed of Hinglish films, the option of going out for a film has become more attractive.

Mumbai's single women could be shopping one weekend, going to the cinema the next or proceeding on a strenuous trek. Better still, they might be hopping onto the night train to make it to swinging Goa over a long weekend.

Picture by A. Roy Chowdhury

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