the one thing, the only thing, that I appreciate, been given time to live in Delhi in these days, is feeling part of the social upheaval and of the huge female emancipation that is going on in India right now. the focus on women in Indian movies, the emphasis on their point of view, on their desires, their pleasures, their sexuality, their freedoms, their refusal (and slow societal acceptance of this) of the social roles they had so far been forced into.

there are many symptoms of this. women are much better accepted in social outdoor spaces today than they were when I lived in this country the last time. men actually maintain their physical distance now and keep their eyes to themselves, and seem to be less lecherous than I remember them being (hubby says this is a function of my age or rather my aging body). women can wear what they want and men are getting used to it. single women and divorced women are more common today than before, and families are so much more okay with that. women refuse to have kids if they don't see themselves fitting that role, and with this although people still keep "helping and advising" against it, their talk is becoming more futile (and they realize that) and is being met with more opposition. and of course, household chores are being so much better shared between the sexes, and most important of all, there is much less co-habiting with in-laws in younger married couples' lives. of course, I'm only talking about the upper strata of urban society, but just that is a huge improvement.

and bad as they are, Indian movies are getting better, more realistic, sometimes overdoing it a lil to tip the scales away from the earlier bias. but still worth it all. lust stories latest of them all. but even veere di wedding. although I still don't understand why the objectionable part in the movie for some of the audience was a woman masturbating on screen; it should instead have been her being embarrassed about it enough to be blackmailed for it and also for considering it an act of "cheating on her partner". really?!! it will probably take India some more time to understand how natural masturbation is.