“Is it?” Jane seemed genuinely curious. “How can I give up something that was never really offered to me because of what’s between my legs?” She gave a hard laugh. “Or not between my legs, or what might come out from between my legs at some
...more
“Critics often say that DDLJ, with its emphasis on patriarchal permission for young love, discourages dissent. This argument narrows the space for dissent by legitimizing it only in its most blatant, combative form, demanding that dissent always be obvious and 'out there' in full view of TV cameras and Twitter. So, no act of protest short of elopement, short of the most radical rejection of family, would suffice. Demanding such all-or-nothing actions doesn't account for the costs that eloping and actively abandoning their families would impose on women from any economic strata. The way we express resistance is subject to our own personal calculus of risk and reward.”
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
“But the question for our purposes is whether the broad pattern of world history would have been altered significantly if some genius inventor had not been born at a particular place and time. The answer is clear: there has never been any such person. All recognized famous inventors had capable predecessors and successors and made their improvements at a time when society was capable of using their product.”
― Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
― Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
“Fantasizing about an impossibly idealized kind of love they’d seen an actor perform on-screen. Yet, all their real-world efforts were extremely pragmatic, often sacrificing the love they fantasized about as a price for earning status, security, and financial freedom.”
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
“Expecting a woman in this landscape to demonstrate dissent by cutting ties with her family—the only institution that provides her material security in the absence of a supportive state or an inclusive market that values her labour—is, perhaps, asking for too much.”
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
“Our institutions, so ad hoc and dysfunctional when it counts, have displayed a surpassing efficiency at reinforcing gender identity. Somehow, we ensure that men and women inhale what society expects of them, and magically, most of us play out our respective gender identities and idioms. Men must earn money and women must earn love.”
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
― Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence
Swarna’s 2025 Year in Books
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