A woman who uploaded a brutally honest 'Marriage CV' to the internet after discovering her parents had posted a profile of their daughter on a dating site has become a feminist hero.
Indhuja Pillai, 23, from Bangalore, couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the account that her well-meaning parents had created in order to find her a husband. See Marriage CV after the cut...
Indhuja, who works at the internet company Tripigator, decided to build her own description, with a no-holds-barred description of her likes, dislikes and general demeanor and posted it on a blogging site.
Indhuja Pillai, 23, from Bangalore, created a marriage CV online after her parents tried to find her a husband through a dating site
Speaking on her blog about the profile her parents created, Indhuja said: '[The] details were, name: Indhuja, profession: Software Engineer.
'I went like, "WTF is happening here," because, I am no g***amn software engineer and I'm only 23!
'I am [not a] woman desperate to get married, and that matrimony profile made me look like one.'
Indhuja took the profile down and told her parents that she was going to build her own dating profile, telling them to, 'Send this to anyone who has the nerve to ask my hand in marriage.'
The so-called 'Marriage CV' is nothing like any dating profile you would find on a wannabe bride's page and even states that she is interested in men who hate children.
The profile reads: 'I wear glasses and look dorky in them. Not a spendthrift or a shopaholic.
'Detest masala & drama, not a TV fan. I don't read.
Indhuja's marriage CV
'NOT a womanly woman. Definitely not marriage material. Won't grow long hair, ever.'
Indhuja then went on to describe the sort of man she would be interested in hearing from.
She said: 'Looking for: A man, preferably bearded, who is passionate about seeing the world.
'Someone who earns for himself and does NOT hate his job. Extra points to the one who hates kids.
'Points for a great voice and an impressive personality. Should be able to hold a conversation for at least 30 minutes.'
She added: 'If you think you qualify, I recommend you re-think. If you are sure, I suggest you show this website to your parents.
'If you're still sure, try imagining a life with someone like me.'
After just 48 hours, the CV went viral, with people from as far away as Australia and Canada picking it up.
Indhuja says that the response to her piece has been overwhelming
Indhuja is now being hailed as the face of modern India - a woman who's not afraid to challenge traditional perceptions of femininity and womanhood.
And her blog post has touched a nerve in the same week the BBC plan to air India's Daughter, a documentary exploring the attitudes to women that formed the background for the brutal gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in 2012.
Filmmaker Leslee Udwin, who made the programme which will show on BBC4 on Sunday, March 8, was disturbed that the men who perpetrated the crime barely seemed to realise they'd done anything wrong.
The bus driver Mukesh Singh said: 'A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.'
While one of the laywers for the men, told Udwin: 'We have the best culture. In our culture, there is no place for a woman.'
Yet despite this, Indhuja's gutsy marriage profile was met with widespread support. In a follow-up post she revealed the impact of her marriage CV.
'For starters, people like genuine guts. They respect confident and free women, in the right way,' she wrote.
'Many women could relate to the plight of their parents pestering them to get married. And men, without a choice, could only dream of marrying someone like the woman in the profile, me.'
And it's clear from comments on the site that Indhuja articulated the frustrations held by modern women in India trying to juggle their hopes and ambitions with the expectations of their traditional parents.
One commenter writes: 'I am just 20 and is already being pressurized to start "looking" (from orthodox muslim family here) and I am holding out on my own.
'But IF I ever consider going the marriage route, I think I'll just get inspired by you and create something like yours to sieve out the ones I'd want to ever get married to and to scare off the kind I'd rather avoid! :D'
Another says: 'I'm too 24, and seriously, all this "do-you-have-a-boyfriend/are-you-marriage-material etc etc etc",the list goes till infinity,haunts me at nights!!
'Why can't the society accepts us,THE TOMBOYS,as the way we are!!'