From nitish to baigan ka bharta! Married in an Indian way!

Sitting at home far away from action makes me wonder whether it was the right time to call for a sabbatical. After all the women's bill almost lost hope but was tabled. The three day drama that unfolded before the bill even got voiced in the parliament was ironical. While some had valid concern regarding who shall benefit from this bill, others merely were governed by their own selfish motives.

Anyhow, as we all know that this is just the beginning and there are a lot of hurdles still to be crossed before the bill can be actually passed. So let's hope that while this 33 percent aims or claims to change things for the fairer sex, it also brings about the necessary changes that one has hoped for the rural and downtrodden women with almost no opportunities and no future.

But while this reservation drama was giving stiff competition to the various reality tv shows, something else caught my attention. My mother's staff came to visit her one evening. Since amma was busy in her evening puja, I attended to her first.
Shobha aunty is a mother of three proud daughters and a son. I am more fond of her cooking than anything else. It almost feels like I am eating her love. Until this, it was quite difficult for me to understand the whole concept of love mixed with food. But shobha aunty's food smells of her warmth and unconditional love.

So while I sat with her again making a list of things that I would want to eat off her hand, she happened to mention a rather funny story. Well! funny not in a humorous way though.
Her eldest daughter who was now of a marriageable age was rejected by a family which had come to see her. Before I dwell into the reasons of this rejection , I have to add that Jyoti the girl in question is a talented painter and an awesome cook. Anyhow, her quiet demeanor and feminine ways were not apt simply because one of the boy's relatives happened to ask her to name the CM of Bihar.

Honestly I am not interested whether she did have an answer at all. The point is not if any of us have an answer to any of these matter of fact questions. The point rather here is what is the kind of test that one needs to give and pass in order for an alliance called marriage.

Are we now creating another market of kunjis and crash course with ten most commonly asked question by the groom's side. From CM to UN sec general??
While it is completely alright to know and evaluate the person in front of you, how far will you go to do so? Here sits a mother giving a hundred excuses why her daughter could not say Nitish Kumar aloud. But the fact remains that she should not be made to do any of it.

If it's about a system that at least believes in giving a voice to the other sex, then let us at least pretend that we are ready to hear it too. Whether it is about choosing a life partner or a profession a woman should have the right to ask what ever she likes. So don't be surprised if the next time a boy is rejected because he doesn't know the simple recipe of how to make baigan ka bharta!