FREE HUNTING GROUNDS FOR
DARLING AUNTIES
Winters can get very lonely in Scandinavia, especially for older women. Some come to India, warmer climes, for a companion, a young Indian man, who is more than eager to experience sexual bliss.
Winters can get very lonely in Scandinavia, especially for older women, who are single—widowed or separated—children old enough to fend for themselves.
Some come to India, prefer southern states, warmer climes, sea and seclusion from their own world. They, let’s call them darling-aunties, come here for a companion, a young Indian man, who is more than eager to experience sexual bliss.
They stay for a month or two like couples. These experienced women make impressionist Indian men realise the true potential of pleasure that can be harnessed from the body. That only starts after a couple of days of cleaning. ‘Hygiene is a concern,’ is the only complaint.
They make an odd couple, the women are white, tall and big; their Indian boyfriend dark, shorter and emaciated—they prefer skinny men with hairy bellies, I’m told. Most of them are travel agents, and are open to such intimate liaison. In fact, there’s a fair bit of competition amongst them. And they fail to understand, rather bewildered, why a certain person gets picked. Their idea of endearing looks is different, perhaps, stems from virility, whatever it may be, confuses the local hunks who get routinely ignored, they learn the hard way: looks are deceptive. These darling-aunties are never in a hurry, smiling, categorical, and make informed choices.
Back home, no one looks at them, or looks through them, benign existential neglect, but for the hired help, usually a shrink. It’s a win-win situation. Indian men give them much needed attention, they are celebrated, and the locals get a paid dream holiday, they end up making more money than the their last drawn salary. Some darling-aunties take them for a trip in India or even abroad, East Asia is a preferred destination. There are few have even spent a summer in Europe with the love of their life, and don’t mind being a playboy on display, happily attending to domestic chores.
Darling-aunties are seeking experience and celebrating their being, variety is enriching, prefer a different companion every year, understandably so. But the male companion, experiencing pre-marital bliss, gets emotional about the whole situation, though it’s very transactional in nature. When their ‘my fair lady’ returns the following year, and picks another man, they get desperate, jealous, some even create a scene.
A sixty-year-old Swedish woman with blue eyes roped in a 25 years old Sikh lawyer—a skinny tall fellow with a thick crop of hair, let’s call him Gurdeep. He was agog with the experiential bliss, he became very needy, and would tail her everywhere—yes everywhere. She was three years older than Gurdeep’s mother and Gurdeep was three years younger than her younger daughter.
Gurdeep’s family refused a nuptial knot, but he was mesmerised, therefore adamant and there was no going back. He was in a kind of spell but soon, Gurdeep’s darling-auntie, twice his weight, more than twice his age, got bored and needed space, and that’s how he was let off. Gurdeep mourned for a year.
Darling-aunties are friends amongst themselves, watch each other's back, even collaborate. One such woman, who’s not that old, and is known to me, visited me one evening with a bunch of bananas. She is critical of staring Indian men but likes the attention as well and haunts the dating sites. She and her friend hunt Indian men jointly and exchange notes. She was boasting to me about allowing an Indian man on a dating site, she concurred to have a chat with him only to inform the poor fellow how lousy he’s in bed; she knew because her friend didn’t have a good experience with him. I objected, ‘if he didn’t click with your friend doesn’t mean he will be bad with other women too.’ We argued for a bit, and I, with the zeal of an activist, told her, ‘India is not your free hunting ground.’ She picked up the bunch of bananas and left in a hurry accusing me of ‘mansplaining.’
Responses (1)
M
Mihir Srivastava (Illustrations by Mihir)19 Jun 2026
DIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE SAME THING: EGOTISTICAL OBJECTIVITY
My sketches present a starker picture. Same phenomenon, different interpretations. The story is effectively told, either way. We in Gonzoom consider the story and the storyteller as equal stakeholders. This is what we mean by egotistical objectivity.
