Michelle Obama, you make us uncomfortable!

I am surprised and somewhat disappointed by the response given to Michelle Obama in India on social media. A lot of jokes have been cracked at her expense. Most of them involve her physical appearance. She has a commanding presence which we are not used to. She is too tall and too dark for us. We, the Indian men with height complex and small you know what complex feel threatened right away. We feel more comfortable with “wheatish” north indian types. If a woman is strong in a true global sense we feel very uncomfortable. The men simply see women as an extension of their achievements. An American president was supposed to have a perfect trophy wife.

Our ideal woman is fair, “medium height”, educated but not more than her husband, modern enough to post those cute pictures on FB but definitely not independent. She has a worldview developed in alignment with male members of her family. The “ideal” woman  keeps karva chauth, can dance on Bollywood numbers in weddings, produce fair and plump adorable children and laugh at her husband’s jokes. No wonder Michelle Obama with her stature, degrees from Princeton and Harvard and sheer presence is understandably deserving of our mockery. We would have really appreciated if you were a little shorter, fairer, less educated and walked behind your husband.