I Love Chick-Lit & Chick-Flicks and I Cannot Lie!

Being a nerd is difficult. It sure looks easy when that nerd is played by Emma Stone or Deepika Padukone, and all they got to do to get some love is take of their glasses, slather some make up, a sexy outfit or two maybe and BAM! And if you’re Katherine Heigl, it’s cakewalk, bitches! But when you’re a nerd with glasses and more body weight than necessary, the love department is completely non-functional. Thanks to my interests and general decline to engage in any girlie activities, most boys took a while to register the fact that I was *surprise surprise* a girl.

But such was the age, and such were the needs of the teenage heart that true love be found. A few hits and misses apart, true love never came. But YOU did. And boy, am I glad that you did!

To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember the first chick-lit I read or the first chick-flick I watched. All I know is, we started out slow and then it blossomed into a full-blown addiction I could never get enough of. You might have gathered as much from my ridiculously obvious proclamation above: My blog header.

Chick-Lit, you first. Where do I begin! Our tempestuous love affair has only managed to grow with time. And why wouldn’t it? Your glossy paperback covers with their beautiful illustrations are so alluring! And your enticing back blurb, the brief description of what’s to be found in your pages, full of promises of love, friendship, self-actualization and a fairy-tale ending! In a heartbeat, I was spellbound.

 It’s not like I didn’t try to resist the addiction. I was all prepared to write you a Dear John letter and move on to more…umm… intellectual pursuits like Sci-Fi, Thrillers and even hardcore classic literature. I was ready to go nuclear, man. Like Tolstoy and Murakami nuclear. But you had so many aces up your sleeve that I was bound to lose: The BFF-ish Bridget Jones’ Diary, the glamorous Devil Wears Prada, the surprisingly engaging Shopaholic series, the comfort-food like Princess Diaries! And when you thought you were losing me, you dared to bring out the big guns. The Chick-Lit Queen herself. HRH Jane Austen. I would hate you if I didn’t love you so much!

Falling in love with you, Chick-Flicks and trashy Rom-Coms, was only natural. Like breathing. Sometimes, the written word is not enough and you need visual proof that all’s going to be fine in the end because friendship and true love win against all odds. Our first few years weren’t so smooth, I guess. We both were unsure of what we wanted. But then your stories started being directly lifted from popular Chick-Lit, and I knew it would be smooth sailing henceforth. You were now learning from the master.

I was helpless once again in the face of Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles playing paintball in 10 Things I Hate About You, Colin Firth telling Renée Zellweger that he likes her, Bridget Jones, just as she is, or Serendipity bringing John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale together. I fell in love with the friendship of four girls sharing a pair of Travelling Pants over the summer, Mean Girls discovering their good sides, the Wild Child finally finding herself, and the fake adulteress getting rid of the not-so-Easy A to find true love.

I could go on but you do get the gist, don’t you? It’s good to know that somewhere, someone is getting their perfect, even if fictional, happily ever after. You’re my escape, relief, stress buster, comfort food, safety blanket and pastime, all rolled into one. True, I don’t gain much knowledge from you other than some truly spectacular vocab and oodles of eye candy. But you’ve managed to be the biggest influence on my writing style and overall behavior so much so that my best friend calls me “Chick-Lit on Feet”.

So there, I said it. I love you, Chick-Lit and Chick-Flicks! You’re my guiltiest guilty pleasure and I cannot thank you enough. And yes, this includes you too, Twilight. Don’t listen to those evil people trashing you. I would be depressed too if my hot vampy boyfriend abandoned me. And confused about my half-naked werewolf BFF because you can be in love with two hot guys at once. And 50 Shades, you’re cool too, okay. Like after one has seen the trailer with Jamie Dornan in it. Shirtless.

Okay, I’ll go now.

 

 

In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Grateful and Guilty