Just yesterday, I saw a huge hooh haah on Twitter about the new Tanishq Advertisement. The reason, the so called protectors of religion claimed it to be promoting Love Jihad.
The concept was simple. A Muslim Family has a 7 month pregnant Hindu Daughter in law. They want to celebrate the Baby Shower or Godh Bharai of their Daughter in Law because that will make the Daughter (i.e. the Daughter in Law) of the House Happy. There is no practice of Godh Bharai in Muslims.
Let us talk about the concept of Godh Bharai. This function is generally conducted at the house of the Father of the Child. The reason being the child and the mother are the members of that Family. So they call all the close relatives and friends including the relatives of the mother’s family and request them to bless the mother and the child. It is generally done in the 7th month. A huge feast is served, the house is decorated, the mother is pampered and placed in a special seat. This is a function that is conducted by the to be born child’s father’s family because they have to introduce the world to the future born child and seek for blessings from everyone.
A practice, that has been carried out from centuries. Even in the said advertisement, the same concept was being shown. The only difference is instead of Hindu, the girl’s husband was a Muslim. There was a huge debate on calling for the Ban of the Advertisement and the Advertisement was removed within a few hours. The worst part was just because of one advertisement TATA and Tanishq lost huge sum of money in the share market.
I found it very ridiculous, because when we are already living in a melting pot of culture, why create a huge hill out of a mole. How many of us know our own caste and heritage and practices ? That we keep criticising the ones, who are trying to adopt the same. There are huge articles about how Bollywood always stereotypically shows Hindus in a bad light and Muslims in good light but this advertisement was not at all about the same. I would look at this advertisement in a different way, wherein the in-laws of a girl are trying to keep her happy. Irrespective of the Community, that is something that needs to be done.
The so- called protectors of Religion claimed that why only Hindus have been tolerant and adjusting. I guess those people are yet to be married, because in the relationship of marriage it is not the religion that has to be adjust, but two individuals who need to adjust. Marriage is not about caste, religion or practice. IT is about two individuals, who decide to spend their maximum life together. If a person wants to respect the other individual, they will respect their religion and practices. If the person does not want to the respect the oppposite person, millions of reasons are always available.
IT is high time, that we address the real issues of the Country. No matter, how many laws are there in this Country to support Women, even in our society they are treated as Second Class Citizens. Her wants and needs are subject to the fulfillment of terms and conditions of the society. Only after fulfilling the duties and role as carved by the society, she can think about carving a niche for herself. This problem not only exist amongst Hindus or Indians, it is the same across all religions across the World.
Marriage is a relationship between two equals, yet we need laws to say that after marriage the matrimonial house of the girl is where she resides with her husband. In the said house, she can live with equal rights as other family members and with dignity. Even in modern Urban marriages, small wishes are compromised.
Unfortunately, in India, there is no importance given to companionship in marriages. First Marriages, survive because the couple has to please their parents and in the second half the couple needs to survive for the sake of children. In this time, I support the new Colgate Advertisement, which talks about Re-marriage in a beautiful way. Hereunder is the ADvertisement for your reference.
We still live in a society, which thinks, that post marriage the only job of the woman is to take care of the Husband’s family. If there is a small mistake in taking care of the same, then the witch hunt for the woman begins. How many times do we consider her as an individual, who has lived her own live for some 25-30 years, with her parents, in her own house, chasing her dreams just as you are.
People often criticise love marriage saying the girl did not think twice about her parents before walking about with a boy she met a few months ago. But the same is perfectly fine, when in an arranged marriage, the boy over-night asks the girl to cut off the relationship with her family !! In this case, neither the girl nor her family know a complete stranger, who has walked into their lives a few years ago. Just the way men are raised by their parents and how their parents need them in old age, women are also raised by their parents and have struggled hard in life to become capable enough so that you select them.
WE still live in a society, which refuses to acknowledge the dreams of a woman. Yes, the advertisement, may have shown that a woman is happy is getting a new piece of a jewelley and having a party at her house with both her families. Simultaneously, it also shows that the unsaid wish of the girl is respected, which is more important.
Probably, we as a society, have decided to find problems in anything and everything around us and not concentrate on respecting Human Beings. May be the reason for showing this advertisement with a Hindu Muslim family was to promote acceptance of Culture. In a city like Mumbai, we have had neighbours from all caste and religion. We always went to each other’s house and celebrated all festivals together. Food and Festivals united us.
To conclude, I would suggest, that atleast now, let us consider marriage as something personal between the couple and stop making it a social issue. Unfortunately, a lot of marriages are under a stress, only because they survive under the guidelines of the society, only to make the society happy.
P.S. I have been a Tanishq Consumer. This advertisement does not change anything for me. When I buy gold all that matters is purity and design.
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