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Despite awareness that demonises dowry and almost 60 years of now having an anti-dowry law, this tradition is still followed in very creative ways.
This is written to those who feel that the ‘tradition’ of dowry is OK, or even accept or expect ‘gifts’ from a bride’s family for being the groom’s side.
Please know that although I am not judging you, it says a lot about your belief system if you are okay with the practice of dowry (in its present form), and are willing to follow it, or support those who indulge in this practice.
Firstly, it is pretty clear that following this tradition is more important for you even when it has been declared a criminal offence under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, and if it’s reported and/or proven that someone was indulging in dowry, they will be arrested.
Secondly, you are willing to put another family under financial, psychological, and physiological pressure just so that this tradition is followed.
Thirdly, you are willing to follow a practice that has resulted in a number of women being killed, raped, harassed, divorced or even die of suicide. You are also fine with this arrangement which results in families being burdened with massive loans which they are not able to repay.
And finally, if you still agree with the practice of dowry, you are willing to put someone under pressure to give you money that is not yours with absolutely no intention of returning it.
Forget about returning the money with interest, as you would do if it were a loan, you are not even considering giving back the principal amount.
Maybe I can go so far as to call dowry a euphemism for extortion or blackmail. You can let me know if I am wrong or right about this.
A version of this was published here.
Image source: shutterstock
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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