I just finished reading The Girld of Riyadh (thanks Neha for lending me the book). Its not the first book on the Islam or its people that I have read, its a subject that has always interested me. My friend told me this book was different. It was. An account of the lives of Saudi Arabia's velvet class, teh story of four young girls and their quest of finding love, happiness and their identity. I started reading with a sympathetic eye...poor girls - dominating men and no license to drive and I belong to the cosmopolitan Mumbai - wear lesser clothes, can drive, can go out alone, can fall in love.
Rajaa, the author of the book talks about her four friends and their lives where all but one are unsucessful because of some Saudi men who are keen to fall in love with these vivacious and outgoing women but prefer a wallflower to get married to. But that's the story here as well. I speak for myself and my life so maybe people who read this disagree with what I have to say. But inmy experience I have come across men, their dream girl is different from tehir ideal wife - Simple not evolved, loving not passionate, pretty not hot, educated not fiercely ambitious, selfless not independent, homely not wild, shy not outspoken, boring not a gypsy at heart, presentable not sexy, shy not over the top, knows to cook not to grind, makes babies and not endless love...we may call ourselves modern, the new generation, different from our parents - but listening to rock and sporting a Louis Vuitton doesn't chnage the minset. The difference between Mumbai and Riyadh is simple if you ask me - they acknowledge and believe in what tehy implement and live large within that but we under the guise of being 'cosmopolitan' still wear dhotis in our mind. I guess thats the difference between conviction and hypocrisy.
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