Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence

by Shrayana Bhattacharya

Life in Delhi can feel like living in a Victorian novel, hoping to be announced and introduced to another.

what Rabindranath Tagore once called ‘a community of qualified candidates,’

the impact of such curricula is more insidious, converting a creative student body into orderly subjects of comparison and competition, perfect units of productivity.

‘So many girls I knew at school gave up on a career or studying further because they believed that a bad score meant they were bad people.

That’s right, money is a construct for those who have plenty of it.’

The only thing that created distinctions within the well-educated elites were social connections and family wealth.

Most reportage on these women was restricted to their beauty and love affairs.

People like me and him, without anyone to rely on, need to work to make a good living.

She claimed that her caste privilege meant nothing in a world in which the Student’s parents could call in favours from an old college gang of high-ranking buddies.

between males with unwarranted self-confidence and females with unwarranted self-doubt.

Beyond the drudgery of domestic chores, the responsibility for keeping track of other people’s feelings and needs has by default been devolved to women.

Love, ideally secured through

marriage and caregiving, remains fundamental to Indian female life.

‘How many of us are lucky enough to have such support from an office or our families?’

Exam-based excellence was her retaliation for the male worship she perceived in her world.

environment—its bro-codes, power cliques and alpha males—gnaws away at our professional enthusiasm.