Starting A New Business? 7 Key Points To Keep In Mind.
She thought about others in her gang of pals from school days. Are their marriages like this too?
The Muse of the Month is a monthly writing contest organised by Women’s Web, bringing you original fiction inspired by women.
Indu Balachandran is one of the winners for the July 2021 Muse of the Month, and wins a Rs 750 Amazon voucher from Women’s Web. The juror for this month, Jane De Suza commented, “This one was tuned like a violin. Not a word more than necessary. I liked the writer’s unique style, as well, her staccato single-line deliveries.”
She badly needed a break.
On her feet, seven hours daily at the Store where she worked.
Keeping track of inventories high up in the storage lofts, rushing down to serve customers.
Then standing most of the way home, in crowded trains.
Once home, no chance of putting her feet up either. Picking Rob’s clothes off the floor, running the machine, getting dinner, running up to the terrace to water the plants…
Girls with romantic notions of marrying ‘he men’, who’d lift them up and carry them across the threshold of a new life, and then never lift a finger in the dreadful reality of house chores.
Girls who adored macho guys of muscle– who could move them to giddy fantasies, yet who’d never move an inch in the heavy duty of domestic responsibilities.
Rita recalled the time she first saw Rob. Tall, rugged Rob.Yes. She’d been swept off her feet. And now it was her lot to do the sweeping, the swabbing. The fetching, the carrying. The fixing, the clearing.
And whose fault was it all? Her own, of course.
Who said “I’ll do that!” “Relax! I got this!” “No worries! I’ll finish it”. “Stop! That’s my job.” “Sure! I can manage”.
Was Rob a born lazy male chauvinist pig? Or had she turned him into one?
The trick question had begun to seep in, however. It had become a trick situation.
The longer she sat feeling sorry for herself, the less sorry she felt.
It’s called a reverse something or the other. There isn’t time to get into that now.
She was at the end of her tether… something had to happen.
*
Then it happened. A breakdown.
Even her boss at the Store was sympathetic, giving her three weeks off.
Rita smiled as Rob brought her Maggi noodles he’d just made for dinner, just as she instructed him to; as she put her aching feet up on the stool, watching TV.
Rita gazed at her huge bandaged foot again, enjoying a secret laugh in her mind.
Ah, that wobbly step ladder at the Store…
Every woman deserves a break.
Editor’s note: This month’s cue has been selected by Jane De Suza, whose books combine humour with thought-provoking insights, which have got them onto award lists and Amazon’s and Nielsen’s bestseller charts. Flyaway Boy (shortlisted for The Times AutHer Awards, PeekaBook and Neev Lit fest awards) and When the World went Dark bring hope to issues like death, grief and stereotyping. The Spy who Lost her Head and Happily Never After are of special interest to women, and the SuperZero series and Uncool for children. The Midnight Years, out soon, takes on young adult mental health.
The cue is from her latest book When the World Went Dark.
“The trick question had begun to seep in, however. It had become a trick situation. The longer she sat feeling sorry for herself, the less sorry she felt. It’s called a reverse something or the other. There isn’t time to get into that now.“
Image source: a still from short film Ghar ki Murgi
INDU BALACHANDRAN was raised on an unhealthy diet of Mad Magazines since age 8-- leading to a lifelong love of humour writing. A 30 year career in Advertising took her from copy trainee to Executive read more...
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If a woman insists on her prospective groom earning enough to keep her comfortable, she is not being “lazy”. She is just being practical, just like men!
When an actress described women as “lazy” because they choose not to have careers and insist on only considering prospective grooms who earn a lot, many jumped to her defence.
Many men (and women) shared stories about how “choosy” women have now become.
One wrote in a now-deleted post that when they were looking for a bride for her brother, the eligible women all laid down impossible conditions – they wanted the groom to be not more than 3 years older than them, to earn at least 50k per month, and to agree to live in an independent flat.
Ms. Kulkarni, please don’t apologise ‘IF’ you think you hurt women. Apologise because you got your facts wrong. Apologise for making sexual harassment a casual joke.
If Sonali Kulkarni’s speech on most modern Indian women being lazy left me shocked and enraged, her apology post left me deeply saddened.
I’d shared my thoughts on her problematic speech in an earlier article. So, I’ll share why I felt Kulkarni’s apology post was more damaging than her speech.
If her speech made her an overnight hero among MRAs, sexists, and people who were awed by her dramatic words, then her apology post made her a legendary saint.
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