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Indian cinema has portrayed a stereotypical image of the Indian mother in law. A dour faced, cock-eyed banshee. Is it so even today?
The Indian mother in law was always shown as a vicious termagant, conspiring and conniving and creating a rift among couples. The daughter in law was showered with aspersions regarding her upbringing or household chores, while the son was a mere spectator and a mute testimony to her evil designs.
Patriarchy had created problems in our society. Girls were uneducated, confined to the four walls of their house, home and hearth was their only source of entertainment. From their parental house to their marital house was their only life. Their prosaic existence created frustration and this was vented on the daughters in law. This went on for ages and the daughters in law bore this torment without retaliating.
But the eighties saw a paradigm shift in the thinking of people. Girls were given good education, they started having careers and procured good jobs. The mindset of the people took a new turn. Indian cinema too was instrumental in changing the perspective of people, by portraying liberal, glamorous mothers in law, who had a better equation with their daughters in law.
Today the mother in law has developed a swagger, and is on equal footing with her daughter in law.
Education and jobs have brought a great change. The Indian mother in law is well groomed, well toned, smart, confident, pleasant to talk to. Armed with diverse knowledge, she carries herself with poise, goes to salons and spas, reunions, pizzerias, parties, religious discourses, et al. Being tech savvy is the order of the day and in fact she shares an easy camaraderie with her daughter in law.
The villainous streak has been replaced by a liberal mind set. They don’t want to hang up their boots till the end.
They can be summed up in the lines of Robert Frost-
The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have miles to go, before I sleep!
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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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