‘Acceptance takes time — victory to the patient’

While watching a movie I slept beside my brother-in-law. And, in the middle of night I felt his hand touching my upper private parts. I did not resist and pretended to sleep. Now, I feel guilty for not resisting. He is the first man to touch me. Should I talk to him? How should I free myself from this guilt? MN MN, this is the question that plagued Prince Hamlet, who in order to keep his fine figure, couldn’t decide about his breakfast meal. Thus, came about the world’s most famous monologue, (after Donald Trump’s ‘there are no Mexicans here’). You may recall it as ‘To Be or Not To Be’. However, in the original, it is actually, ‘To eat or not to eat’. MN, you seemed to have been in the same stupor, as Prince Hamlet, although in his case it was his uncle touching his private parts, and not his brother-in-law. If you want to end the matter, I suggest don’t say anything. Of course, if he tries any unbrother-in-lawlike behaviour in the future, please be firm, frank and forthright. Me and my friend have a crush on a girl. She has blocked my friend and stopped talking to me. I wanted to convince her to speak to me, but she has a friend who may be poisoning her mind. Should I express my feelings to her, because my friend may not like it? RK RK, what’s your plan here? To start a corporation? Sell Equity in the form of love shares? All those interested in the same girl apply now? If so, please remember that mutual funds are prone to market risks and ‘conditions’ always apply. This community love thing is a very hard sell. You can’t all like one girl. That doesn’t work for desserts, forget romance. First you and your friend need to figure out — who likes who. But, before you get excited and chase down this poor helpless damsel, have you given a thought to the fact that she’s not interested in either of you, as her action of blocking him, and ignoring you, seems to suggest? So, before you start your love company, find out what she feels. It looks like she is absolutely uninclined towards you, your friends, your relatives, their friends, their friend’s relatives, and their relative’s friends. I have been dating this guy for the last 3 years. We love each other a lot. But, I am scared of my family and I have lied to them about my boyfriend. What should I do? NK NK, let me begin by telling you a story. Okay, I’ve forgotten that story, so let me tell you another one. The sage Dashyantha, in an effort to overcome fear, dug a hole in the ground, and stuck his head in it. His goal was to stay like this for 40 days. This would cause him to eliminate the feeling of fear. And you know what? It worked. After 40 days, he conquered fear. Sadly, due to this position, his body has assumed this look permanently — head under his knees and his posterior where his face formerly was. You need to overcome your own fears. Think of them as your parents. Think of all the nice things they’ve done for you. Appeal to their goodness, and don’t react to their emotional rantings. Acceptance takes time — victory to the patient. As my doctor falsely advertises: don’t run away from them. Instead, turn them toward you. Just always assume an upright conventional body position when you do so. I moved in with my eight stepbrothers last year. All of them are handsome enough. Coincidentally, one of them was my classmate. Now, all of them have fallen for me and proposed to me. I don’t know why. However, I see them only as brothers. I can’t afford to break their hearts by refusing. What should I do? Sabrina Sabrina, are you in some erotic French film, or are you for real? Do you have a genuine French accent? I can’t tell your accent from your writing. What are the chances that a person has 8 step-brothers? And then what are the chances that all 8 brothers will propose to you? By the way, step brother means you share one biological parent. So half siblings generally don’t consummate relationships, unless they are chimpanzees, where I’m told it’s the preferred relationship. I would run away from this situation, and refuse all 8. But I can’t tell you what you should do — that only you or a chimpanzee can do.