Author: Ajay Yadav
Book Blurb:
Ajay meets his childhood friend Shruti on a social network site. He finds her to be struggling with intrapersonal, interpersonal, inter-social and inter-religious conflicts. Eventually the conflicts killed her. Police could solve the case but will it prevent hundreds of Shrutis from getting killed? How long will we aim ‘who’ killed, more important is to find out ‘what’ killed. Till we don’t address this issue and work on it, many Shrutis will keep on getting killed. We need to cure the disease not only the symptoms.
This book is an effort of the author to find the root cause and probable remedies of these conflicts, exploration of hundreds of pertinent questions like “why in one religion it becomes so easy to get volunteers to blow themselves and others for the sake of religion? Does the religion divides or unites? What precipitates extramarital affairs? Does the immature and wrong interpretation of female emancipation the reason for 13 times rise in divorce rates in last 5 years?
It’s not only a book; it’s the path to revolution, it’s a journey towards utopian world. Accepting truth and hypocrisy is the toughest job on this earth. If you feel that you are open minded, have courage to accept truth and have a desire to change the world then be the part of change. Let’s take our first step to build a road to the utopian world.
My Review:
The storyline is quite fresh and interesting. The whole idea of how religion plays a role in Indian family life, as well as love life, was quite interesting to see.
I loved the main character, Shruti, especially when she is younger. She roams around withher two friends, plays on boys sports team and is usually the brains behind every mischief…
The male lead Ajay, I felt was too full of himself and tended to go on long…looooong sermons about what he thought was right..he had a lot of stereotypical views like “Girls should wear what is “socially appropriate”. His wife is shown in a bad light because she is woking “too much” and is “so selfish that maid takes care of the son”..funnily enough throughout the book this high and mighty fella never spoke or saw his son…but his wife…yea..she needs to be with the son and become more “wifely”..interestingly when she does leave her job..she is finally shown in a good light. Our hero also goes ahead to mansplain that a woman “should work only to think beyond the ‘saas bahu crap’ to ‘understand stress of her husband”, that is right…a woman works so she can understand the stress of her husband’ and when she works she will not fight on trivial issues BUT should take time for her family…why else would she want to work? And obviously….the nagging wife that every female is..would be fighting on ‘trivial’ matters…the great man however never ever speaks or picks fights. Also, why should only the woman tale time for family? Why cannot men?
When Shruti tries to speak and get her views across, she is again mansplained that wrong notions of “women’s empowerment” leads to divorce…True…why would an arrogant man-child who expects a human slave (who also brings in money) to serve him hot food and attend to his every whim and fancy, ever be happy in an equal marriage? He then goes on to say “women jeopardise life because they want to compete with men”. The idea that women study and work and aspire to have a successful and satisfying careers (just like men) is somehow beyond this person. A career woman is just “competing with men” HELL NO…a career woman is having a career because SHE WANTS A CAREER.
One more point that was mentioned was that housewives are more intelligent as they choose to focus on only one line…so yea..all yea women in offices…you are not intelligent..coz you choose to work in office AND home..that’s TWO JOBS..you dumbos…your lazy ass husbands would obviously not be raising even a finger..that’s so obvious.
We have even advised “No need for girls to forgo happiness and bliss of marriage just because of this fixed thought that outside work only brings you identity. So now a man gets to decide what brings women happiness! WOW! I never knew that I could quit the work that is the reason that I am excited about each day to start…and that I actually look forward to Mondays as I can go back to doing what I love….to cook and sweep and keep things tidy..each and every single day. Yup..that be fulfilling. Why choose the thrill of daily challenges where I could get dready routine between four walls..and grocery shopping once in a while? Sure…I see how that could be sooo damn “happy and fulfilling.” For women or men who see this life as a great choice for themselves, that’s good for them…but clubbing all women together to expect them to all be happy and fulfilled is too darn sexist.
After all these, there is one line that says men could opt for role reversal. Which again I disagree. It is not a woman’s role to take care of the house. If two adults are living under the same roof, then it is the job of both those adults to take care of the house. If two people brought a kid in this world, then both have to take care of it. It’s THAT simple.
While all men were working, women (except the mean wife), or should I say “the good” ones were all housewives. While men talked substance, the women talked family and decor…you know…like every woman talks only on that.
Also, there was this point where it was mentioned that it was mostly men who have extramarital affairs. And the sole reason given was the females in their lives do not satisfy them. Which is so wrong…on so many levels that I cannot even begin to address.
While the premise of this book was good, it was highly sexist for me.
There and Their 