There, clad in muay thai (Thai Boxing) shorts, running shoes and plain tee, not to mention looking fierce, was Ming. I had recently been acquainted with Ming, and in the short time that we’ve hung out together, she seemed like your typical girly girl: long earrings, beautiful shoes, feminine attire.[break]
“I run like a kilometer everyday before I go work out in the boxing gym,” she answered my curiosity with a sparkling smile, and all the while I sat there, completely baffled. I hadn’t the faintest of a clue as to how the petite womanly Ming could have such an interesting hobby.
Boo to stereotypes and all that, of course, but I have to admit the admiration, the awe, the augustness I felt when I saw Ming puffing and panting and doing laps.
I admired her for she belongs to a society that values femininity and feminish qualities very highly, and yet she boxes away while still retaining all her womanly charms.
Personally, I hate that something like muay thai might not be considered an apt sporting choice for females. But in my attempt to balance out idealism with realism, I feel obliged to say that most of the people in (perhaps most) Eastern societies wouldn’t digest the fact that woman can be kick ass boxers. But newsflash: they can!
From this admiration also stems awe. This is because I can’t help but wonder how Ming could’ve been fascinated by something as crude and as aggressive as muay thai. After all, all the blood and the injuries involved in it might not make it everyone’s cup of tea.
“Well, after I started boxing, it kind of just got addictive. Whenever I need to blow off some steam or just need a pump of adrenalin, I head down to the muay thai studio – and I need this rush everyday,” she joked.
Hats off to her! That moment there, she made me proud: perhaps it was the feminist in me kicking in and going “Ha, take that all, you male chauvinistic pigs!” But whatever the reason, I absolutely adore the fact that a girl from this side of the world has what it takes to defy convention.
Speaking of defying conventions, another example I have to share with you is that of my cousin sister. Again, recollections of her takes me back to a time when I remember her telling me, “I want my hair to grow as long as Ash’s,” speaking of the waist-long hair of Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.
But talk about transformations when she uploaded a picture of her bald self on Facebook a few months back. Not photoshoped, no. It was the real deal when she decided to get her hair shaved off. “I honestly just wanted to try out something outrageous. He-he,” reads her e-mail in response to my “why?”
Again, the same kind of respect flows through when I think of how she mustered up the courage to get rid (for good) of what is considered one of the most feminine assets. Moreover, what’s commendable is that she was the reason behind her desire for change, not a breakup, not some sad-turned-happy story, or vice versa. It was her and hers alone.
Of course, the attention that she received was huge, she tells me. And I say “why not?” As I stalked her Facebook profile, kudos were lined up for her, as everybody commended her bold move. It is one thing to see celebrities shaving their hair and walking the red carpet, but to see someone so close to you take such a daring step stirs up inspiration from within, for sure.
I admired her for she belongs to a society that values femininity and feminish qualities very highly, and yet she boxes away while still retaining all her womanly charms.
And while I have my female acquaintances boxing and shaving their hair, I also have male friends doing pretty unorthodox things and serving as examples. I don’t know about the degree of unorthodoxy, but I know that I don’t know enough guys who are cheerleaders. But this friend of mine is.
He is athletic, comprises all the “masculine qualities,” straight (in case you were wondering) and a cheerleader. Cheerleading is just something he’s interested in and that’s that.
I see him and other guys along with girls devoting endless hours to practice sessions on campus. He tells me that cheerleading is as normal to him as is taking up guitar lessons, for example, and that it has never crossed his mind that it might be looked at as something effeminate.
“I consider myself quite a ladies’ man, you know,” he jokes and the other girls around him nod their heads in agreement and approval.
Count on these avant-garde people to give you refreshing perspectives on life. I mean, if you start streamlining what is and what isn’t appropriate, then perhaps you’ll never end up doing half the things that are worthwhile in life. Think about how many people can say that they rocked the bald-chick look at 21 and had guys fall on their feet.
The minute you stop being a stickler for punctilio and zoom out into the wider contexts of things, you realize that most of the things that you perhaps never thought of doing are usually the most rewarding. So go do something you never imagined doing in your wildest of dreams, and like Steve Jobs said, “Stay hungry, stay foolish!”
Ayushma Basnyat is a student of Political Science at Thammasat University who enjoys exploring life and all that it has to offer.
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