Usually, ten plus two years is so short a period in the story of a nation, that you could liken them to maybe a couple of months of human life. They flit across, almost unnoticed by history. Not much changes in that much time.
Not the last dozen Indian years.
Hark back to 1997.
How many males then would have sent a ‘mail’ to their females? That too a new one every day!
What did terms like ‘net’ and ‘network’ mean?
Actually, a whole new dictionary needs to be written for new meanings that have been given to words we once learnt in school, as also for the arcane, newer terms. For instance, the word processor sill draws a zagged, red line under ‘texting.’ Can any one of us survive without the service?
Today, the Nokias, the Samsungs and etceteras have taken over the world. Effortlessly, they have become the ubiquitous companions of all men. Even more so of women. So much that many of the fairer sex keep them snuggled in such soft, intimate places, that the small hand- sets have become targets of envy of both the males and the Sun. Both manage even a peek into those valleys only if they get extremely lucky, and that is not everyday.
No male or his female goes to bed without their respective mobiles. They may do so without each other.
The biggest change however is in the attitude of women; young, old, and middle aged, towards life in general and herself in particular, especially, in the smaller towns of what is known as the urban(e) India.
SHE has changed in all senses of the word, sexually, sartorially, socially, sensually and spiritually. The change has been systemic and successful. It has also been determined and irrevocable.
Observe, for example, how casually, very middle of middle class parents, from very conservative, small town ‘mohallas’, have started sending their uninitiated, unmarried, nubile daughters, to work in cities, to which they themselves have never been to. Once there, the girl fends for herself, armed only with her degree and her new found independence. Far away from the scrutiny of the near and dear ones, she blooms!
Even as near as mid Nineteen Nineties, such events were unheard of. They happened only to the ‘forward’ and ‘modern’ girls of Delhi and B’bay. There too it was against the norm rather than the rule. A suitable boy was the only target for every parent of a pretty lass. No more.
The newfound economic independence has also liberated the girl’s father. Questions about dowry etc are now out of question. It is not uncommon for him to grill a prospective groom to determine whether he would be suitable for his daughter’s career plans.
On most occasions the daughters free their parents of even that much trouble. They find their own partners.
Along with HER, her HIM too has changed, more nilly than willy. In 2009,the condition of the male belonging to 40-50 age group, is the worst. The poor guy has been hit by a steamroller and has been swept aside. About fifteen years or so into his marriage, he has found that he is no longer living with the female he had once married. From being the lord and master of all he once beheld, like his father and uncles, he has had to do a quick makeover and has stepped back to being a mere co-pilot, companion and suitor.
‘An attached bathroom,’ quipped a much-married, fifty plus, lady, while describing her doting husband. Essential, comfortable, indispensable even, but entirely forgettable after use.
The best part is, that she whispered this to the mother of the girl, to whom her son was getting married, at that very moment!
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