I’m not afraid of the F word (feminism), but I realise why people are scared to use it. We have put a standard of feminism which you read in the New York Times. But most Indian women don’t relate to that. For most Indian women in small towns, feminism would be ‘Sunday ko humein khaana bahar khaana hai’.Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat is confident that he understands middle-class India, and it is stories gestating in this milieu that he says he tells well. His new book, One Indian Girl, has a simple story, simple language and an unusually high usage of the word “however”, but what I find interesting is that in this mass-y book (which will be read from Kanpur, to Jammu, to Kanyakumari), taped are subtle lessons of feminism.
There is a scene in which the protagonist, Radhika Mehta, demands that the guy go down on her, which is (sadly) riddled with a lot of confusion and guilt, but the lead goes ahead and gets it anyway. My interview with Chetan Bhagat has him explain to me the sexual politics behind the scene, as well as a candid declaration, “Maybe my book is not perfect. But it is a start.”
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