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Home Untruths

I am reading this piece by Chetan Bhagat and wondering how many ways a desi dude can come across as chauvinistic and condescending towards the very women he aims to make his case for. I have to ask myself if this a case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions or one of a man who simply lacks the ability to understand and communicate with women. He argues in favor of the non-phulka making, career woman as the better choice of life partner. To that end he proceeds to list the "enormous benefits" of having a wife with a career.
In the process he manages to be an equal opportunity offender of phulka and non-phulka brides alike. I am willing to bet it never crossed Bhagat's mind that such a classification of bride-types is a caricature of the demographic. Women are complex, nuanced creatures and how they fare in a marriage is rarely related to whether or not they have a job. What Bhagat is describing is a marriage of convenience that involves a second income. In a time when the institution of marriage is struggling so hard to remain relevant, it would be well served not to have immature and inarticulate spokesmen like Bhagat. It is encouraging to see that the readership was not too impressed.

Off topic, this also reminds me why I have not read Times of India in years.
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Comments

sandhya said…
Agree completely.Here is another rebuttal to Chetan Bhagat's regrettable piece, posted by a friend.
http://mommygolightly.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/home-truths-on-non-career-wives-what-chetan-bhagat-ran-out-of-space-for/
11:29 PM
Hope said…
Well, if you haven't read TOI since quite some time, I would say you aren't missing much. On the contrary, you may read it to find out how truths can be manipulated and put in words that change the meaning completely. There have been so many cases where the speaker said sth else and TOI said it in a totally different way to gain publicity and readership.
12:03 AM
ggop said…
HC,
I don't know. I feel working moms are judged so much by SAHMs that I feel happy someone like CB is standing up for career wives. Of course he could have expressed it much better.

So many of my desi friends are working full time and do almost everything on the home and kids front that I feel its just unfair.
1:33 AM
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