tales of Suchita

So I am tall.

In medical terms it means I am 179 cm and most nurses have to climb onto stools to be able to measure my height properly – it is 99% possible my height in numbers is incorrect,

In English that’s about 5′ 10″ and,

In Indian, it means I won’t find a husband *just kidding…maybe not*

Being tall gets with it a few laughs and chucks (as Richie “Trashmouth” Tozier would say) every now and then and here I am going to expose some of them:

People’s reaction – One little guy in the elevator was so impressed with my height he wanted to be as tall as me (you go little man!). Most guys (shorter ones) look at me, look at each other and sort of walk away from me like they cannot bear to stand next to a taller girl. Older women give my mother looks of sympathy.

Jokes – Apart from the usual you should play basketball in school, once my uncle joked that he would find two men of three feet each for me. And they could stand one on top of the other so they could be taller than me. I remember rolling my eyes hard and having a serious discussion with him on why this isn’t a viable option.

Feet staring – The strangest mystery so far has been men staring at my feet. For the longest time I thought maybe they were marveling at how big my feet were (size 41). But then my cousin came up with a possible answer – they are looking to see if I am ‘genuinely’ tall or ‘artificially’ is she wearing four inch heels tall.

Buying clothes – Tops magically become crop tops for me and crop tops let’s just say don’t figure into my wardrobe. Jeans reach only my ankle and I cannot buy ripped jeans because the rip that is to come at the knees comes at my thigh instead.

Sleeping in beds that are not your own – My feet are almost always out of the bed unless I sleep with my legs folded in half.

Leg space – This is too depressing a topic to get into. I cannot travel in buses because I can only sit sideways and that way I am taking up the space for two people: frowned upon in a city that can make five people sit on a bench meant for three.

Stretching – Every time I stretch I hit something. When I have to do stretches during yoga, I need a foot space around my mat if I am to do them properly. Living rooms were NOT designed keeping tall people in mind.

General staring – Now that I wear purple glasses and have a head of curly hair, the staring seems to have increased. Sometimes I like to think it is my winning personality that makes people do a double-back. But mostly, I think it is just the height and the subsequent envy or sympathy.

Needless to say I enjoy being tall and making fun of short people. I recently made fun of MP who is short saying, “Oh…that’s why the top doesn’t fit you…your torso is well…small since you are…small.”

And I am perhaps as clueless of short people problems as short people are of tall people problems 😀