Yvonne Mascarenhas says that she comes from a time when it was frowned upon for women to have their own bank accounts. At age 70, this retired Asst General Manager of Syndicate Bank smiles with the glow of someone who just heard she won the lottery. And unlike most spinsters her age who seem uncertain to talk about this part of lives, (aunty) Yvonne is gleefully raring to go. She recalls with pride, “One of the boys who worked with us in the bank used to tell me, ‘Madam there is something unique in you that married ladies don’t have. You have a heart that embraces everybody’.” She excuses herself later to talk to a friend in distress on the landline, for a dose of ‘courage for the night’ before she returns for her first ever photoshoot.Though quite the extrovert, Yvonne’s sister Janet, the younger of the two is admittedly a tad docile. She says, “I was inclined to get married, but once I crossed the marriageable age, it wasn’t something I thought about too often.” Do the sisters have any regrets? Yvonne takes a moment to think, and then says with a laugh, “Well maybe just the experience of being a bride and walking down the aisle.” Living together at their tastefully designed apartment in Egmore, these sister may not be grandmothers but they do make it a point to stock their cupboards with chips and biscuits for the children in the building. Yvonne states, “Most of them have grown up now, but when the children are playing ball,” she puts her hand up in animation, “one chap will say, ‘STOP, aunty is coming!” Perhaps, skipping ahead of the diapers and poo isn’t so bad after all.Asked whether there were any handsome suitors along the way that made the sisters reconsider their choice to stay single, and Yvonne admits with glee, “Oh too many!” She hints with amusement, “And when I was studying at MCC, I was the only girl in my class, so you can only imagine.” Minus the husbands, there is no lack of love in this household. Janet says, “We love to dress up. And there is always something to do.” Her sister adds, “Yes and we make it a point to call all our friends. These ‘emails’ are just so impersonal.” Perhaps in a way they are married to each other. A usually bubbly Yvonne take a more serious tone, “If we weren't together, this path of life would certainly have not been as joyful.”
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