Sunday, October 12, 2014

Patriarchy, DDLJ and disappointing brothers...

my brothers have seriously disappointed me.. not the brats, the remaining horde of cousins/best friends that I have, have seriously dashed all my DDLJ fed ideas of how Karva Chauth is supposed to be…
yes I know that is a very very bad line to use if I want to sound like an adult at all and not like a starry eyed tween… but I DID expect better from my big brothers.. I swear I did.. first of all, I will never in my life understand how fasting prolongs someone else’s life.. this is the 21st century ladies and gentlemen.. WHY are we still following the patriarchal model where the woman has to “sacrifice for the happiness of the family” and somehow starving the poor soul would bring salvation to the family…
secondly.. if you HAVE to believe that this deity with no sense demands fasts in exchange for years on earth, why aren’t the husbands fasting for their wives’ lives? why shouldn’t the husband “show his love and devotion” to the marriage just like the poor starving wife?
in any case.. if we have to go along with this loony idea that the husband’s life has to come at the cost of his wife’s health and sanity, WHY the effing hell is it not reciprocal? specially when the scriptures go on and on about being an “ardhangini” and the married couple being the basis of all life and society??
and (read this as being said in an irate voice with a stomped foot) why did no one out of the dozens of the newly and not so newly married couples of my generation put their foot down and DO something?
sure the previous gen has waaayyyy too many married couples for me to have harboured any remaining hope, but they are all old people, in arranged marriages where ‘the family’ scuttled all attempts at overt mush.. atleast in front of the children..
 but this lot?? my generation! they ALL have married for love and stay far enough away that the entire gamut of aunts and aunts in law and grandmothers and mothers does not descend on them to make them do whatever arcane ritual the lunar cycle demands.. and yet… Karva Chauth remains as boring and old people-ey as ever for my assorted brothers and bhabis…
whatever happened to the “don’t bother babe, religion is stupid, keeping yourself hungry is not prolonging my life”.. or “okay since it’s a required married people ritual, I’m fasting with you (Thanks SRK for that one) or at the very least “ since you’re stuck doing this, let me get up at the crack of dawn and cook you something nice and shower you with presents”…
ANYTHING??? hello?? guys??
Do you HAVE to be all boringly unromantic to my bhabis and be all “what are you getting worked up about” at me??
Go watch DDLJ again … all of you.. if I’m not allowed to question the cultural imperative and must accept that the fast must be kept, I’m gonna continue to be SO disappointed at the lack of reciprocal fasts and dancing and presents and unapologetically unromantic behavior in general... Shahrukh Khan.. you have some serious explaining to do.
hmph…


1 comment:

Xandercage said...

Dear blogger anne'john of arch' karva chauat comes only once in a year n its basically about love n feeling which i suppose ur rational intellect cant comprehend but if u want to know the present day reality most of the homes in india is ruled by the women n there r so many wife fearing weak n helpless husbands that ur proposition doesnt stand its ground.it seems patrirachy is the most abominal word in ur dictionary but dont overlook the ground reality of those husband who work day n night just to keep their wifes wrath at bay.infact i knw husbands who fear their wife even more than god itself what u hav to say abt that.n what abt those boyfriend doing all sorts of impossible for a single smile on the beloved face.they too r male. Women today lives much much more privileged life starting from birth in our country because in childhood they r treated like princess by their father n later they themselves rule over their bf n husbands.im sure u too have lived it but just for the sake of opinion making u hav written this otherwise.very bad anne john of arch.