He's just not that into you

This movie just came and went in India. No big uproar, or maybe I missed it. But right now, while vacationing in US, I happened to visit Schaumburg Public Library for a Yoga Conference, and saw this cover, not on a DVD, but on a book. Of course I was really curious to know what could be written to fill about 130 pages on this subject. I love the saying 'When in Rome....'. So, when I'm in US, I always try to read the things that seem to be 'in' at the moment. As a child, this is how I got into Judy Blume, Sweet Valley Twins, The Babysitter's club series, and a very good novel called 'Where the red fern grows' (I later saw the movie too- amazing), and in a recent trip, one called 'What dreams may come' - by Richard Matheson. This one made it to my list of all-time-favorites-and-can-read-and-re-read-any-number-of-times books.

So..coming to this book. I was just browsing through the chapters... He's just not that into you if he's not asking you out, He's just not that into you if he's not calling you... I still couldn't believe they'd written full chapters on these seemingly pretty complete sentences. My uncle finally asked me if I wanted to check any books out, and here I was, with this book in my hand.

I finished the book in two days. Its written by the co-authors of the show 'Sex and the city'. Greg Behrendt is the funny-man author, and as his co-author Liz Tuccillo puts it, he's the big brother you never had when it comes to dating-advice. The book is written like a self-help book... and is written in the form of sarcastic agony-aunt type responses from Greg to women with dating problems. His answer to all of them: He's just not that into you if he's not head over heels in love with you and not emotionally available to you. And, in his own words, 'Don't waste the pretty'.

Erm, in an Indian context, this could fall flat, coz firstly, Indian women don't date, dump and re-date as often as dating women in New York. But lately, I've become very introspective, and it struck me that this book could be used by Indian girls looking for grooms on shaadi portals!!!! Far-fetched idea, true, but I really applied it to some of the scenarios a very good friend of mine has been in, and I felt, had she applied the rules in this book, she would have known when to shout "Next!" and move on, rather than waste her time with some really bad so-called prospective grooms. I like Greg's line "Don't waste the pretty". And also this one "Pets are God's way of saying 'Don't lower your standards'" :D What he means is, if all you're looking for is a sloppy mannerless weirdo who only wants to be fed, go get a pet! Don't settle for less. Nice message...

His writing style makes you laugh... he uses humor to drive a tough point home. In one letter, where he wants to say that women should use this book as a tool to find out whats really going on in their relationships, but caution us against overdoing it, here's what he says

'when I say tool, I don't mean a giant shovel you use to hit unsuspecting men over the head'

Hahaha..nice work, Greg :). We get it...finally in any relationship, we have to use our own common-sense, while remembering that we are worth being treated with respect and then reach a decision.

I'm gonna see the movie next! Hey....no raised eyebrows! I'm on vacation!!!

Cheers,

La Pensive