The Modern Indian Girl: Battling The Stereotyping

NEW DELHI: She is multitasking but doesn't know how to cook, she doesn't have the patience to deal with nagging in-laws, doesn't want children within a year of marriage and her focus is on building a successful career. Meet the new age 20-something Indian girl who's fighting the 'matrimonial ad' battle with her parents every day and shattering the stereotype of what is expected of a conventional Indian wife.

It took one brave 'tomboy' Indhuja Pillai, a Bangalore-based 24-year-old, who calls herself 'not marriage material', to awaken the underlying frustration in many girls across the country on the issue of being pressurised by parents to find a groom via matrimonial websites, ahead of International Women's Day.

Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of Woo, a women-centric matchmaking app that highlights women's expectations and concerns about marriage, says that Indhuja's plight echoes the sentiment of millions of Indian women, who don't subscribe to the idea of the 'ideal bahu'.

"They long to be accepted for who they are and not forced into any boring, uncomfortable moulds. Women now want marriages of equality, where whatever applies to the man is equally applicable to the woman - be it independence, social life or work," Menon told IANS.

A string of regular surveys by popular matrimonial website Shaadi.com has indicated that marriage queries annoy single Indian women the most; that Indian girls are more forthright about their preference to meet a prospective groom before his family; and that meeting match-seekers due to family pressure tops the complaints of eligible women.
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