Monday, November 14, 2011

'We're Modern!''

A lot of times, when we (read: educated 20 somethings) witness an outrageous event like eve-teasing, or curse the 'orthodox' people for being so narrow minded about relationships, live-ins, short skirts and so on, we all presume one thing; that all of us do not and will never support such things. We shall try to abolish such practices and be the harbinger of liberal and open thinking. Do we not?
But as we grow old, we realise that only some of us are actually brave enough to do such things. Only some of us have actually imbibed the thought of not doing crazy things that have been practiced since time immemorial and following the herd.


Of course it sounds absurd to our educated egos. One might think, 'I don't support female foeticide or sati, so how am I still backward?' But, then that's the truth. Almost 90% of still are stuck in the time warp that bridges the sane, practical living from the insane ones.

It all started a few months ago. The realisation, that is. I never knew that a lot of the modern families still accept dowry! The more the bridegroom's degrees and/or salary, the more is the dowry.
'Why?', I enquired.
'Darling, that's his worth!', pat came the reply.
I probed further with my naive logical reasoning. If the groom was earning well, why did he need more money? Wasn't that, in simple terms, stupid? Apparently not, I was told.

Two months after that, I was discussing the perennial 'when I get married..' with my friend. (Every girl does that, so that's not the appalling part!) I was telling him that I want to get married at the Plaza. He said jokingly, how rich are you? I replied in all my seriousness that I'd try earning enough to pay my share. He asked me, 'what share?' I elaborated that both of us will pay half, so my share of that. He rolled his eyes at me and scoffed. He told me that I'd never get married if I didn't change my thought process!

Yes, I had seen in the never ending soap operas that the girl's family pays for the wedding. I always thought that it was something really crazy. I mean, her parents educate her. Some even spend their life savings for that. When she's able enough to earn, they part from her. Leaving emotions and equality behind, and just doing the math, the groom should pay for it!
You don't agree, do you? See what I mean?