Life in the Western World for a Woman

``Her widowed mother back home in Punjab cursed her for leaving her husband worried at the haranguing from the relatives that would inevitably follow.``

It is sad, sad, sad that most South Asian women would rather hunch their shoulders and hide from society than open arms to their daughters and give them a shoulder to cry on in such matters. Whatever happens to their `mamta`? Isn`t Simar`s mother a widow herself? Doesn`t she realize the emotional trauma (if not physical) which follows when a woman is separated from her husband?

``Simar avoided the Indian community in Australia to some extent. Some of them knew her ex-inlaws and others would question her living with an Australian man, or at the least, would raise eyebrows.``

As long as it`s an Indian or Pakistani community, Chinese food would never get away without achaar.

``There was no guilt or hesitancy over her actions, no explanations, she was a free woman, Australia had been good to her- it had liberated her.``

You wouldn`t know would you? What if her ex-husband never abused her in the first place? Her daughters will never have a father figure to look up to. Of course she`s better off but `liberated`, I wouldn`t know. The point is, any person, man or woman, hailing from anywhere, prefers settling with someone who shares his/her roots. Not all Indo/Pak men are chauvinists, but as they say, one rotten apple spoils the whole....grocery store. You end up buying fruits from another farm.