All those feminists who complain and protest about women being portrayed as sex objects please pay heed to the woes of the women who are expected to behave like the females of the daily TV soaps.
Imagine what an average woman has to compete with-
The actress in the daily soap is beautiful, sexy, well dressed and smiling even in deep slumber. A lot of effort goes into those beautiful looks. Imagine sleeping in a sequined designer saree with a Kundan necklace and heavy earrings. She is an excellent cook and takes minutes to cook a tasty and wholesome meal for her kids, husband, in-laws and extended family. Her time management is perfect, rather unbelievable. She dresses up the kids for school, drops them at the bus stop, rushes home, cooks and packs lunch for her husband. Sends him off to work with a romantic peck on his face all this without a sign of fatigue. She sleeps after making everybody else comfortable and wakes up before anybody else has opened their eyes. Her house can compete for the the first prize if there was a competition for neat, contemporary and practical homes. Everything in its place both aesthetically and practically. At the end of the day when her kids are back from school and husband reaches home after a tiresome and sometimes frustrating day she is ready to absorb all their tensions with a smile. if the husband is not able to run the business for sometime due to certain inexplicable reasons she steps in his shoes. In her 2nd or 3rd meeting closes deals worth thousands of crores of rupees. The Ratan Tatas and the Ambanis will get inferiority complex if they watch this happening. The Ramu Kakas and Shanti Bais are well trained and well behaved (don’t know why she cooks herself with so much help available) and she doesn’t need to shout at her husband or kids to vent her frustration. For those of you who are wondering why not vent out stress on the domestic helps, any Indian woman can tell you that you can’t risk that.
Her children, are either thoroughly well brought-up and very well-behaved or villains who have to be made a part of the social main stream by sheer patience. At no stage does she lose her cool, her smile is her biggest asset. A perfect hostess to her husband’s friends and relatives and her children’s friends. The most capable and patient nurse if God forbid somebody in the family falls sick. Her prayers are most touching and moving. God has no choice but to answer her prayers and perform miracles when the doctors have given up hope.
Compare this super woman with your mother, wife, sister or anybody from your neighbourhood, town or city. You will find the real woman incompetent, haphazard and lazy. This is what you call maligning the good name of an average Indian woman!
from Vishesh :)
from Reema :)
12 Comments
June 21, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Lol
//For those of you who are wondering why not vent out stress on the domestic helps, any Indian woman can tell you that you can’t risk that.// 
one would rather lose one’s husband than lose the domestic help!!!
June 21, 2008 at 7:34 pm
wow! that seriously sounds damn tough to stick to…wonder how they do it..
June 22, 2008 at 2:31 am
But Pr3rna, aren’t all women just like the women in the soaps?
Yesterday, I was reading about the work of a scientist who studies the effects TV have on our happiness and feelings about ourselves and life. He was saying something along the lines of people who watch less TV tend to have higher self-esteem than people who watch a lot of TV. And he thought the reason for that might be that the stars of TV shows are always so much better than its possible to be.
June 22, 2008 at 2:39 am
Never before did i read a better description of Indian Soap Operas. Great post! Love it
June 22, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Prerna:
An appropriate reading which will interest you:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article4164178.ece
June 22, 2008 at 8:09 pm
lolzz
June 23, 2008 at 10:35 pm
And on top of it, they have to do everything thrice…and that too from different angles.
June 23, 2008 at 10:58 pm
@Amit Lol that was a good one!!
June 24, 2008 at 9:05 am
You’re overlooking basic psychology here… Have you heard of the word “Manga”..? They are Japanese cartoons like Pokemon, DragonBall etc… Now, if ou notice closely, all the characters in these cartoons have HUGE eyes! Compare their eyes to the actual Japanese eyes… They’re tiny! Some Manga artists have confessed that their inferiority complex when compared to the rest of the world makes them draw huge eyes on their cartoon characters… They portray what they wish to be…
)
Similarly, in Indian soaps, the reason they portray superwomen is perhaps an underlying desire to be the perfect homemaker, which one can’t obviously be!
(Also, this is perhaps the reason why Americans make cartoons of nerdy brainiacs!
June 24, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Reema, you got it right
It is tough Vishesh
Paul, //the stars of TV shows are always so much better than its possible to be// or much worse always exaggerated.
Thanks and welcome @roomiat.
Shefaly, Thanks for the link.
Thanks Rahul.
Nice observation Amit
Nikhil, interesting observation.
June 26, 2008 at 11:38 am
Superb description pr3rna
June 27, 2008 at 12:46 am
Thanks Lubna.