No need to be sorry

I have developed my daily routine in Mumbai:

7:15am - Wake up
8:00am - Eat breakfast
8:30am - Go to the office

The traffic route going to the office and the hotel car driver may be different everyday, but one thing remains constant --- the questions asked by the driver for the day:

1. Madam, where are you from?
2. Are you here for business? Which company?
3. How do you find Mumbai?
4. Are you married?

I know these are all harmless questions but sometimes it's too tiring to answer them everyday. And the funny thing is whenever I answer the 4th question, they will then answer me with a polite, "I'm sorry madam..."

So what does that mean?!

They are sorry that I am single? Why the hell will they be sorry that I'm not yet married?! Trust me, it's not a good way to start your day...

Then eventually I found out that here in India, it's common for women to get married at a young age. They even have arranged marriages and it's just normal for them to finish their education and get married. That seems to be true because there are not a lot of women in the workplace (specifically in Mumbai). I even conducted a training with 16 participants --- all of them guys. (Yes I'm the only woman in the room. Of course I was not intimidated..well maybe a bit...but pushed that thought away..)

What a highly patriarchal society! Maybe after 5 - 10 years it will change. No one knows what will happen.

The only thing that I know is that I'm very happy to be single and unmarried. Thank you very much for asking.