Something’s very wrong.

And it all began a few weeks ago, when a hard blow struck the psyche of the Indian man, causing a drastic, dramatic change in his behaviour. All of a sudden, he stopped acting the way the Indian woman expected him to, and she in turn, almost overnight, lost her ability to read his body language.

Has his libido taken a sharp nosedive? Has he found some other outlet for his basic instincts? Whatever the case, things are going downhill.

It used to be that parties and pubs were the ideal places for the man-hunt.

Women all over India usually dressed up (or down) for such events, putting their best Choos forward, to land the right man for the evening, the night, or the rest of one’s life. Depending on the requirement.

But nothing’s the same. All the clues have vanished.

First it was the low, wolf whistle. The quick-and-dirty indicator of a woman’s hotness. It’s been silenced. Men are zipping up their lips for fear of reprisal.

The cleavage became the next casualty, ignored like two day-old chicken tikka. Men are averting their gazes, panic in their eyes, fearing for their jobs.

And then came the short skirt, that tried and tested testosterone magnet.

In the blink of an eye, it has lost its super powers. Men are running in the opposite direction of approaching thighs.

Why just yesterday, I stuck my hand out in the elevator, smiling in a friendly way at a handsome, tall, long-haired, greying, somewhat chunky CEO of a large company. I was going to measure his interest in me by how long he held on to my hand. But he folded his palms in a chaste ‘namaste’ and looked nervously around for cameras.

Have men become so focused on staying out of jail, that they’re going to take all the fun out of a woman’s evening? Has the Indian woman become untouchable?

But there is a bright side to all of this thankfully.

The Indian man, afraid to take the elevator alone with a woman, is taking the stairs instead. So once the hue and cry has died down, maybe the Indian woman can look forward to a trimmer, fitter Indian man.