1) 50 Dates In Delhi
If putting yourself ‘out there’ is a sure-fire to find love, all those looking to do away with their single status should be taking cues from this anonymous blogger. Driven by her dismal dating history – her plenty pounds didn’t allow for many romantic prospects – the 32-year-old from Delhi is making up for lost time by dating a man every week, and documenting the experience. Her “experiment with social anthropology”, a mix of Tinder matches and email requests, has turned her blog into a revelatory (and vastly entertaining) insight into the diversity and curiosities of the Indian Male Species.
Do read: The blogger’s tested dating theories
2) Waiter Rant
This blog will make you re-evaluate your diner etiquette, and even reconsider sending that unpalatable dish back to the kitchen. In 2004, a waiter at an upscale New York dig found that in cyberspace he could finally shrug off the geniality required of his job, share kitchen secrets and help humankind become more tolerable customers – don’t stare at your phone while addressing the waiter, don’t assume you’re entitled to the ‘best table’ and don’t be a drunken a-hole. Since then, Steve Dublanica has tossed aside his waiter uniform, become a published author, made several TV appearances (Oprah included) but not run out of material to rant about.
Do read: The perfect way to host a celebrity at a restaurant – just ignore them. Even if it’s Russell Crowe.
3) The Good Girl Confessional
In her forties, this anonymous woman found her life was gradually disintegrating – she lost a home and her business, and instead found herself a never-there ex-husband a whole lot of debt. Now she’s piecing her life together, one blog post a time, moving on with a new love she calls ‘The Producer’, and letting the world in on embarrassing dilemmas (am I alone in not having sex on my period?) and helpfully candid anecdotes (how to cope with when the reaction to your Christmas gift is visible disappointment).
Do read: The Good Girl’s letter to a “young gorgeous chick on the train”.
4) Do Tell
Girls-only dinner tables are one of the few places women can openly discuss their sex lives without being hushed into decency. But the makers of the documentary Subjectified: Nine Young Women Talk About Sex (2009) – an oral chronicle of gay sex, abstinence, physical assaults and STDs – want more women to partake in this terribly unladylike conversation. This blog has become an open platform for women to freely discuss the unspeakable. Many of the posts are anonymous, but all of them are honest, upfront accounts of awkward first-times, sexual awakening, even disturbing descriptions of rape and abuse.
Do read: This woman’s account of accepting her sexuality with help from her two gay uncles.
5) Daisies & Bruises
Depression, once it makes your acquaintance, is like that infuriating dinner guest who refuses to leave. For 29-year-old Erin, the dark beast has been a constant companion – by 14 she had attended the funerals of five close family members (she lost her mother to cancer soon after), and in high school, growing pains aside, she was dealing with the added trauma of her best friend’s suicide. Now, this Canadian blogger is documenting her ongoing battle with depression, helping fellow sufferers with her own admissions of self-harm, of recovery, of stumbling upon beautiful days, of not wanting to get out of bed again, of holding on to the things she love, and most importantly getting by when her therapist is on holiday.
Do read: Erin’s story of living with depression.
