The English Vinglish paradox led thousands of Indians to multiplexes. Its protagonist, Shashi, a traditional conformist ladoo banane waali housewife, represented many women in India. And the storyline typified the mentality of many Indian men: every Indian guy wants his wife to be “Indian”, and at the same time to be “English”. There is a long check-list everyone has in his or her mind in this incredible country.
And for Indian men it runs really long. Ask any guy who is Indian in his roots, and the first thing in the list will be: “She must look good, pretty, cute, sexy.” And the part I find the most hilarious is the demand for fair complexion. The high demand for fairness creams and the dominance that fair ladies enjoy in our film industry confirm this trend. Songs such as gori teri aankhein, chura k dil mera goriya challi, and the most popular foot-tapping song in this row, gori-gori, from the blockbuster King Khan movie Main Hoon Na, have much more to say about Indian men.
A general trend seen in Indian families makes it more clear and familiar: no matter what the complexion of a boy may be, he and his parents will always look for a fair girl for him as a bride and bahu. If they fail to find one who fits the category, they’ll somewhat make a compromise within themselves and shift to the category of “not-so-fair”. But that compromise will come out as an act of mercy to the girl and her family. After they are satisfied with the physical attributes of the girl, the next thing on the check-list is a good job or at least a master’s degree.
Talking of their female counterparts, for most of them the credentials list is of more importance. A guy with a handsome salary can represent the gold rush for many. A good house, car, and the latest in gadgets are the things more likely to impress many of our girls, even when 80 per cent of them don’t even know anything about gadgets and tech-tools.
But one thing we should accept here is that Indian men tend to have a longer check-list than our girls, and this in a country with such a startling sex ratio — 940 to every 1,000 males. That logically means 60 of them are to be disappointed for sure.
And if you belong to the Mars-origin population and you are still in search of your Cynthia, here is a piece of free advice to you: cut short your list or at least cut a thing or two from it.
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