As I was reading the newspaper in the morning today, my grandma told me that she had found a mistake in the paper. Apparently she was reading something of a biography of recently re-elected President of the United Sates, Barack Obama.
In the bio, it was written that Obama's parents had married sometime in Feb and that Obama was born in August. She said to me, "How could he have been born after barely 5 months? It must be a mistake!"
I casually replied that Obama's parents must have had pre-marital sex and that like so many other young American couples must have married only after realising that the girl was pregnant.
At first, I didnt take much notice of this conversation. But it struck me a couple of minutes later.
My grandma found it impossible to even consider the option that someone could have had sex before marriage. In her mind, there was no way that this could be possible. The only explanation for this could be that the newspaper screwed up the date of the marriage or birth.
This is a testimony to the strict laws of the Indian society. The people of my grandma's generation and also the one after that, maybe, have been so disciplined (cant find exactly the right word.. oppressed?) about love and sex. The mind has been brainwashed (poor choice of words, I agree). No relationships or love before the marriage. No breaking off of marriage, however bad it might be.
But of course, for the better or worse, that has changed now. It is still not a completely liberal society, but sooner rather than later, we'll get there!
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