So, it's yet another informal coffee conversation among graduate students who actually should be working but are convincing themselves that there is always a moment for coffee , and since it is just Monday, there is enough time to get things done (I suppose I top the list :P). Now, a couple of my friends were having a conversation about clubbing in Bangalore and suddenly I heard the phrase "but stags are not allowed in club so-and-so". I thought it was the coffee, but after due verification, I found that the word "stag" actually refers to a guy who is going to a club without a girl (or date, should I say). My initial guess when I was asked whether I dont know what a stag means was (obviously) that it was a deer with long horns, or a tall deer, or whatever. I had some trouble digesting the word "stag" and started wondering how it came about. Do stags symbolise the lack of female company and the need thereof? Or do male stags often wander alone and start dancing when they find the need for a girl stag? For a few hours now, it has captured my imagination.
So, the entrance of a club would read : "No stags allowed" ? , or those which do allow them, "Caution: Stags corssing" , "Stags: Next 1 km", or even worse, "Dont feed the stags".
What happens when your girlfriend leaves you? Are you "staggered"? That would make a bunch of guys going to a club "staggering".
So now I have a new label to give myself on weekends: "stag". I'm firmly embedded at the center of the stag herd. Funnily enough, the comedy that I find in it seems to reduce the often felt frustration of being single on a Saturday night :).
And perhaps the next time I find a lonely stag, and it puts it's hands on my shoulder, we will be able to relate to each other.
