StayUncle to the rescue of lovelorn youth

The great clashes that no doubt happened at some ancient times between the proponents of Manu’s Smriti  and those of  Vatsyayan’s Kamasutra  (the two leading treatises on social mores) find  strange echoes in our times.
On one hand we have the love-busting, honor killing, anti-valentine, love jihad types.  They move out in large gangs at any breach of what is deemed in those circles as … perhaps violation of their views of social mores?  
(who gave them the right to decide for the rest of us?)
Any marriage that cuts across gotra or caste or religious lines?  Bears any tinge of a more liberal acceptance of human differences and the right of the individual to personal choices that Hinduism in its vast repertoire offers?
 On the other is the liberal attitude that wonders why two people who know and accept each other, cannot live together practicing and respecting the faiths they have followed since birth.
It is a fact of life in India that we tend to bear down on our younger generations pretty heavily.   Perhaps one of the worst cases is the attitude towards giving young couple privacy --- that causes many family rifts.
It is not always a matter of choice.  A vast number of households are so terribly short of space; most cannot afford separate homes, making for a lot of heartburn all round.
While adjustments rule the roost in such households, never mind the inconvenience, it is young unmarried lovers who are even bigger losers.   How do they find out  if they will fit later?
In a day and age when divorces happen faster than marriages,  pre marital sex is assuming importance, even in the minds of parents; witness the mother in Ki and Ka.  
Irrespective of whether the couple is committed or not, in urban areas at least, sexual encounters are on the cards, for pleasure, for testing ground and for getting to know each other better.  These entail a private space to speak to each other peacefully…. Something that is at a premium, with all the busybodies who rule the roost in gardens and other public spaces.
Is it not a sad statement of the India of our times, when there is so many thousands of crores floating around on so much hot air about  creating  infrastructure, including lakhs of affordable homes for those who need them.
The actual number of such schemes floated is tiny.  Those that actually see light of day are tinier still.  Where do the poor sorry souls take refuge when moral brigade police even small hotels and motels and decent hotels would be out of pocket?
Some bright spark has come up with a start up for just such souls, a   StayUncle app the promises to get them hotel bookings for upto 10 hours for half the day price, no questions asked.
Every startup happens because there is a need to be fulfilled.  This one too.  Quite the opposite of Ashok Chakradhar’s:
“Aadmi ki fitrat nahi badalti
Telephone pe baat isliye karte

Kyonki shakal pasand nahi.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deepika Vs Madhuri

The music channels are full of the  “Deewani Mastani” song. It takes one back Madhuri Dixit’s so many kg ghagra kothawali dance in Devdas.  Pet obsession? Chitpavan women would never be caught in public watching such a performance, as Priyanka Chopra is seen, with perhaps the most authentic expressions crossing her face as she looks on at the interplay between Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. Deepika, in   her pale gold avatar in a net outfit reminiscent of flamenco dancers, with many   co-dancers, seems to inhabit the same Madhuri  space.   She dances in a huge ornate space, more European than Peshwai in design.    Peshwai architecture was noted for its long, perhaps narrow halls and tall distinctively fluted and carved wooden columns based on stone to prevent damp and   insect damage --- all topped with intricately carved wood ceilings and all polished black in color.   Noted examples are the Mastani resurrected palace at the world renowned Kelkar Museum in Pune and the
Read more

Age-old Patriarchy??

  All our Puranas n mythologies are basically stories created to propagate concepts that the writers were promoting. and every subsequent re-writer gilded the previous -- the whole system elastic enough to accommodate differences and flavors to cater to different cultures, North, South, E ast, West, etc. So how about Our (2021) interpretations? They said Parvati created Ganesh from her own body.  Doesn't every woman fashion babies in her womb; nourished by her intake, the fetus becomes a baby in 9 months. No Immaculate Conception --  perhaps Shivji slipped away from his boisterous pals for a romantic rendezvous.  Voila! Baby boy Hua! Could have happened?? Hai an! Did that make Shivji n Parvati first human parents?   Kya khayal hai? Another conundrum: That solid wall of Patriarchy of ancient times. Was it really so solid? Why was Vidur called Daasi Putra when his father Ved Vyas also fathered Drithrashtra n Pandu too? Why was Krishna called Devaki Nandan? His father was King Vas
Read more

Where do we go? Pitralok Congames?

What is the meaning behind Hindu last rites?   Mental rifling and Google Baba on death show     our ancient Vedas have lyrical hymns to Man’s relationship with Nature, plus ways and means of dealing with it,   that were unfortunately overpowered   by   Brahminical platitudes and money-making practices, but the essence has   survived. The soul/Atman is immortal. It is released at the Antyeshti rituals that return the body to the five elements, air, water, fire, earth and space…denoted in the Rigveda, section 10.16: “Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered, O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.When thou hast made him ready, all possessing Fire, then do thou give him over to the Fathers,   When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become subject to the will of gods. The Sun receive thine eye, the Wind thy Prana (life-principle); go, as thy merit is, to earth or heaven
Read more