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

by Shrayana Bhattacharya

only the deepest dissatisfaction with reality drives us to dwell in fantasy.

But if you blossom late, or prioritize your education, or come to the city as a single woman and find yourself looking for a mate in your late twenties and thirties, Delhi closes itself on you.

‘Sexism decrees emotional care and love is the task of women and men come home too tired to deliver emotional goods.’

the responsibility for keeping track of other people’s feelings and needs has by default been devolved to women. In our society,

The edifice of India’s economy is built by the money men make and trade held together by the invisible love and unpaid care women offer.

Women’s dominant role as caregivers with men as breadwinners is an enduring characteristic of India’s urban employment landscape,’

The Delhi scene, where feudalism wore Prada and pretended to be a market economy, only made matters worse.

R. Sivabhogam, who in 1933 became the first Indian woman to qualify as a chartered accountant.

‘Don’t become a philosopher before you become rich.’

‘Success is a poor teacher,’ he had once said. ‘Failure makes you humble.’

that dialogue amongst loved ones can be a path towards social change.

Jesus would approve of Mr Khan.

women’s access to an independent income is one of the most powerful tools of resistance against patriarchy.

The idea that all social interactions are strategic acts, from which we must extract personal gain, has become common sense.