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Book Name: Single in the City: The independent woman's handbook Author: Sunny Singh Publisher: Penguin India Pages: 400 Price: Rs. 295

India is still a country where marriage is the defining landmark in most women's lives. However, the Indian single woman is gradually becoming a force to reckon with. It is undeniable that a large percentage of men have problems dealing with independent successful women - after all they were brought up to believe in the wilt at a touch bharatiya nari icon. And it is equally undeniable that a growing percentage of India women have declared their inability to stomach this kind of discrimination. Dr Rani Raote, a psychotherapist went on record in the Times of India, saying, "It is not as if most young people are unwilling to get married. Yet many.are choosing to remain single. In a large measure, this situation is created by the different standards we use when raising our sons and daughters.We raise them to take pride in their educational achievements.to plan for successful careers." This naturally affects the expectations this new breed of women has about future life partners. Most Indian men have not been taught or conditioned to respond to the Indian woman's expectations of playing an equal role in a relationship, sharing responsibilities and expecting respect.

The result is quite obviously a stalemate. More and more young Indian women have begun pursuing their ambitions and putting love on hold until the right man comes along. And quite a few of them manage to enjoy themselves while they do that. After all, being single means that the most important person in your life is yourself. You can live life the way you want to since you're not bound to conform. After all, you've already proved your non-conformist status by refusing to get married. So you have time to focus on your own ambitions, time to dream and chart out new courses. Which is where Sunny Singh's book comes in.

Singh is young and single - has been young and single in a wide variety of places. Changing continents from Africa to America and India. She is, on the face of it, the epitome of all those young Indian women celebrated in Cosmopolitan. The eternally short skirted martini lunching Indian woman who speaks in an American accent straight off Star TV. There's nothing wrong in being any of these media hyped things. It's a fashionable image to have, making the most of your eligibility while emphasising your independence. However, Singh has attempted to do something that makes being independent more practical. She has put down a survival guide for singles in the city. Survival guides of all kinds hit the presses around the world - but they very rarely hit presses in India. Especially survival guides for swinging she singletons. Singh has put the time she spent researching articles for Cosmopolitan's Indian chapter to good use. She has compiled those articles in book form.

The book covers everything from what you should have around the house in case of emergencies, to visits to the gynaecologist, to going out on a date and having an affair at work, or a fling on a holiday. The topics are not really out of the way. Every educated, westernised single woman in India has read something or the other on these topics at one time or another. But it helps to have them put together as a kind of checklist of dos and don'ts. The book is, obviously, aimed at the young and single, since the young and single lead more complicated lives than the old and single.

Singh has researched her subject - though here one would wish that there were more evidence of that research. Once a while names crop up in the dialogue, divorcees, doctors and the like. Kavita, Aditi, 'Lara, a friend from college insists on moving houses with her two Baccarat more precious than life cut glass champagne glasses.' At this stage the reader might be permitted to wince and think this is another of those really really hip women who doesn't exist in the real India. 'While wives shop for piyaaz-tamatar, the single woman splurges on asparagus...' Yes, there are a few of those booboos, if you'd like to call them that in the book, but there is also useful advice on how to avoid sexual harassment on a bus, what to wear if you're travelling alone, which more than make up for the occasional frivolity.

There are recipes for sangria and useful cocktails, Useful, in fact, is the word that comes most often to mind. The book is written in a chatty style as if you had this friend who went on telling you all the things you knew. The only thing is, sometimes you wonder, where does she get the authority to tell you all these things? Wouldn't some more quotes, some names and professions, be useful. Wouldn't it be good to have advice that covered small towns as well? After all, life in a small town is different from life in say Mumbai or Delhi.

An attempt has been made to do something useful for the successful, smart young Indian woman of the 90's and it has been done with style and fun. Perhaps that's enough for any reader.

About Sunny Singh:

SUNNY SINGH was born in Varanasi. She received her education in various parts of India and the world.
She has worked as a journalist, teacher, and as a management executive for multinationals in Mexico, Chile and South Africa. For the last four years, she has been writing full-time. She is also a playwright.
Her first play, Birthing Athena, focussed on evolving relationships and the price of ambition in post-liberalisation India. The Times of India described the play as "an intensely cathartic experience."
Her first novel, Nani's Book of Suicides, had been recently published by Harper Collins Publishers India. Described by the Hindustan Times as a "first novel of rare scope and power," the novel explores the cultural identity of an Indian woman through a fund of myths, family lore and contemporary reality.
Her second book, Single in the City: The independent woman's handbook has just been released on Dec 22, 2000 by Penguin India. Sunny Singh shares her thoughts on her inspirations behind writing this book and how the material in the book was built.

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