As India is striving hard to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, lockdown is our only tool to tame the COVID-19 pandemic. But the coronavirus-induced lockdown has put our marriages to the test.
With no or minimal support system, many marriages are struggling to find mental peace and sanity. Like many of us, Mira Rajput is also tired of being locked with husband Shahid Kapoor during the lockdown.
Recently, Shahid Kapoor took to his Instagram account to share a funny video in which he does an old man’s voice and says, “It’s time for quarantine. So much fun!”
He captioned the video as – “Entering quarantine phase 4 be like. . . @mira.kapoor can’t deal no more with me,”
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Entering quarantine phase 4 be like . . @mira.kapoor can’t deal no more with me.
Currently, Shahid is quarantining with Mira and their kids, Misha and Zain.
When his fan asked him if he was helping out with the household chores, he revealed that he is in charge of washing the utensils at home during the lockdown:
“Mera department bartan ka hai. Tumhara (My department is doing the dishes, what’s yours)?”
Though shahid may be joking, it is the ugly reality that many Indian wives are feeling for their husbands.
During the lockdown, while husbands manage only one department in a house, wives are left to manage multiple departments – ranging from cooking to brooming to laundry to handling kids. And if they are working, then add office work as well to the mix.
Lockdown has been toughest on Indian women because of the age-old patriarchal system, the household is still seen as women’s responsibility. While many men engage themselves in the household chores assuming they are helping their wives rather than thinking it’s their equal responsibility.
But what saddens us the most is the fact that even though our parents raised us to believe in equality, they forgot to warn us about how marriages are not based on equality.
It is not that we don’t love cooking or cleaning for our families, it is the overburden and lack of gratitude that distresses us the most. Whatever we do for our household chores is seen as our responsibility, whereas what our spouses do is seen as a favor.
This lockdown has cleared the misunderstanding that many of us were holding about our marriages. Our marriage may be seen as equal from the surface but deep down women are expected to bear most of the burden.
If you don’t agree with whatever we said, we want to tell you how happy we are for you and your husband. You guys are an inspiration to many others, who are still struggling to find equality in marriages.
Maybe that’s the reason why, even though we love our husbands, we are yearning for some space in the marriage. We want things to go back to normal as they were before coronavirus hit our country. Because with our support system (maids and cook) around us, the inequality in our marriages was not so evident!