WON BY ONE

Solitude is becoming the new luxury, reshaping the way we eat, travel, unwind, and even where we live. Businesses, in turn, are giving them company by offering standalone experiences

- SUGANDHA MUKHERJEE

NA RECENT Sunday afternoon, I booked a single ticket for Neeraj Ghaywandirected Homebound at a PVR near my house.

The theatre wasn’t full, but what struck me wasn’t the empty seats but it was how many people were there alone. A woman two rows ahead had a bucket of popcorn to herself, scrolling through her phone before the lights dimmed. A man, likely in his 40s, had settled into a recliner with a tray of cheesy nachos. No one looked twice. They didn’t at least.

Ten years ago, I might have hesitated to go to the plays solo, just as I would have felt self-conscious eating momos alone at Dolma Aunty’s stall in Lajpat Nagar. But today, that pause has evaporated. More of us are doing things alone, not out of necessity, but out of choice.

Take a friend of mine, Anjali Raj, 27, a freelance content writer. Earlier this year, she took her first solo trip to Jibhi in Himachal Pradesh. “The purpose was simple: to treat myself,’ she says. “I'd booked a hostel in Tirthan that got cancelled at the last minute, so I found this lovely treehouse in Jibhi. I had no fixed plans and that is become my mantra now: not to plan.”