The most celebrated player, David Beckham sports his diamond studs with elan. A Telegraph file picture

Imagine this. A young man walks into the trendiest jewellery store and asks for diamond studs. The woman at the counter shows him many and then smilingly says: ?Your girlfriend will love these.? The young man answers gruffly: ?These are for me.?

Though this is a purely hypothetical situation but it?s quite possible. More and more men ? indeed from all ages ? are choosing to wear jewellery. In the age of the ?metrosexual? man, why should a guy fear flaunting a mere stud?

And there?s nothing to write home about. Right? Well, not quite.

Take Kanchan, a student of Karim City College, Jamshedpur, for instance. Though he is okay with his stud-wearing friends, he has second thoughts on the ?trend?.

?I do have a few friends who wear it, but I would never do it myself. Such things only suit a girl. If any boy feels that he looks cool then the person is sadly mistaken,? says Kanchan.

Whatever may be the verdict, gone are the days when rings and studs adorned the ear of women, and women only.

Though in the western part of the world, men and women are equal when it comes to fashion and both are allowed to accessorise crazily, in India, even today, the fairer sex has more freedom to indulge in fancy clothes and accessories than their male counterparts.

Some men, though, are finally fighting for their right to appear ?fab?.

Chandan, a student of Ramgarh College, Ranchi, who also have been indulging in modelling assignments on the side, pointed out that he has been wearing studs for the past one year. He still is not a convert ? as he still does not have a pierced ear. His logic, why go for that when you have a clip-on.

?When I first started wearing them, I did not dare to enter my house with them. I still remember the look on my parents? faces when they saw me with the earrings for the first time. That did it for me, and I never went home wearing them again. Even now, I do not enter the house with it.? For folks like him clip-ons sure do help.

He is, however, ready with a word of caution. ?Earrings do not look good on every one. I got a second opinion from my girlfriend after I started to wear them. It was only after I got the green signal from her that I started,? adds the guy.

Chandan incidentally brings forth a humble point of male fashion ?what do the opposite sex say?

Here, too, the answer is complicated. Some might believe it is just cool but others, errr?not quite.

?Certain statements suits a girl. This fad of boys wearing such stuff is an ?inspiration? from Hindi movies. But they fail to realise that certain things look good only on reel and not on real life. Guys grow up, it?s for us to wear,? says Shreshta, a first year student from a Jamshedpur college.

There is one section though that does not come up with a surprising answer ? the professors.

Colleges across the steel city are not too gung-ho about their students sporting a ring. ?We do not even allow caps in classrooms, so how could earrings be allowed? Whenever teachers come across such cases, action is taken,? says A.K. Sinha, a senior professor at a Jamshedpur college.

Joy Chakravarty, professor in St Xavier?s, goes a step further. ?I feel pity when I see the boys. I feel they are suffering from some forms of identity crisis. They dress up like punks. There is nothing to be done with them. I sometimes feel like going to them and giving them a gentle pat on their cheeks. I feel like saying, ?c?mon boys, stop it?,? he adds.

However sad he might feel for the boys, they are pretty happy with the way things are. Vikranjeet Singh, a graduate from a Jamshedpur college, who sports a cute little ring is, in fact, more than happy.

?People may say whatever they want, but it gives you a different look and identity. Moreover, it?s just a small ring. Why should we make a big hue and cry over it?? says Vikramjeet, who started wearing his ring only six months ago.

In fact, many would agree that it?s a retro style that?s coming back. In fact this one is really retro, almost Vedic-years-old. In that good-old time, gold was indeed cool as many men (or all) sported rather large earrings. Thus, relax guys, it is just a fallback to the golden era when fashion was an egalitarian issue.

And now for the brave boys, the cities offer salons, shops and vendors, who are more than willing to do anything for the sake of fashion.