I was very surprised to read a news article about the marriage of Mahatma Gandhi’s 45-year-old great-granddaughter, Sonali Kulkarni, the President & CEO of Fanuc India Pvt Ltd., with the 47-year-old chairman of Microsoft Corporation India, Ravi Venkatesan. Their love story began a decade ago but they could not marry as his parents were against him marrying outside the community. He is a Tamil Brahmin. So, Ravi and Sonali waited – for a decade.
I was baffled by the story. What made the man and woman wait for the parents' approval? If they had been very young and financially dependent, then one could understand their wait. But in the given situation, no logic or reasoning explains their decision, leave alone the stance of Ravi's parents. I am shocked that caste system still wields such power over the educated affluent class. More shocking is that Indian children still think that it is their duty to gratify all the whims and fancies of their parents. What good is education if you cannot even fight against the crap happening at home?
The fact that she was the great-granddaughter of the father of the nation seemed to have had no impact on the oh-so-brahmin parents.
I was baffled by the story. What made the man and woman wait for the parents' approval? If they had been very young and financially dependent, then one could understand their wait. But in the given situation, no logic or reasoning explains their decision, leave alone the stance of Ravi's parents. I am shocked that caste system still wields such power over the educated affluent class. More shocking is that Indian children still think that it is their duty to gratify all the whims and fancies of their parents. What good is education if you cannot even fight against the crap happening at home?
The fact that she was the great-granddaughter of the father of the nation seemed to have had no impact on the oh-so-brahmin parents.
