The Coming of Reason | Relationships
How even the liberalising winds of change forgot the dark Dalit quarters of India.
If Tinder came late to some homes, it didn't come to mine at all. My cousins and extended family found it supremely normal to ignore because we are still learning how to negotiate love-marriage discussions with our Dalit parents. Girls in my immediate world continue to have sari-related troubles with love and relationships more than anything else. In 2013, a cousin was made to leave an ongoing conversation with a prospective groom to go wear a sari and 'show' -- she promptly went to her room, locked herself in, and watched Grey's Anatomy on full volume for the next 30 minutes. Her embarrassed parents and his slightly angry ones spent the next 30 minutes nursing their teacups and smiling painfully at each other.
Or, like in 2018,
