Author: Nirupama Subramanian

Once again, some Political Personality has said something Politically Incorrect about women. Last week, the Turkish President declared “Our religion (Islam) has defined a position for women (in society): motherhood,” “Some people can understand this, while others can’t. You cannot explain this to feminists because they don’t accept the concept of motherhood.”   A part of me dismissed him as another male chauvinist who makes random motherhood...

Sometimes completely unrelated things that happen around the same time get you to think about one single thing. There might be some greater cosmic significance or it could be random coincidence but these things happen.   I saw the movie Mary Kom.   In a stairway leading to a shop, I saw a poster that said My wife does not Work with a picture of a multi-armed multi-tasking woman.   Someone...

Indra Nooyi’s interview has once again brought the ‘having it all’ issue into focus. Some women are aggrieved that her comments have set the feminist movement back a decade or two. Others applaud her for finally being honest enough to admit that a woman cannot be a perfect mother, wife, and CEO. The ‘having it all’ monster keeps rearing its Hydra head from time to...

Unless you have been living under a rock, you could not have missed the brouhaha about our HRD minister’s educational qualification. Is Smriti Irani a BA pass or BCom graduate? Is she a graduate at all? Did she lie about her educational qualification? Is this a political conspiracy?   It could easily be one of those pointless charades that are enacted from time to time-full of sound...

I am at a restaurant for a ladies lunch. We are talking about hair, our general unhappiness with its texture, sheen, volume. And color.   “I found a white hair,” says one of my friends.   I confess to having found many. I pull them out with a tweezer, hoping another does not rush to take its place.   We talk about food and exercise, the shameful truth that cutting back...

The greatest exercise of adult franchise in the world is currently underway in our country. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections have eclipsed cricket results and the latest Bollywood releases. It is no longer acceptable to shrug off politics like a bad cold. The current elections are fascinating, not just because of the new cast of characters who have emerged on the political scene but for...

‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’   I remember this little nursery rhyme I learned a long time ago. It was supposed to ward off insults and make the name caller feel like an ineffectual fool. Said with an affected braggadocio, it gave me a temporary reprieve, a fragile armor against the Stupids, Donkeys, and Idiots we used as children.   But I...

This article was first published on IBN Live’s blog...

This article was first published on IBN Live’s blog...

Remember that old riddle? A man and his son are traveling in a car when they meet with a terrible accident. The man dies on the spot and the boy is rushed to the hospital. The surgeon who is about to perform the operation takes one look at the boy and gasps- “I can’t operate on him. This is my son.” How is this possible?   If...