So let's see what we have here then...an yuppy iBanker-MBA are we or are we yuppy-dreaming-yet-to-be-iBanker-MBA-frustrated-in-the-ubiquitous-Indian-industry? You may be either, no point mentioning here that I will be more reverent if you are the former, but then an advice at the outset for both the segments, be advised that your career progress has already been determined, some 22-24 years ago (the age bracket where you can still hopefully expect to become an iBanker and beyond which be advised you can only become an Equity researcher-about-to-be-frustrated-in-3-years). For the people who got the import of these meandering lines, welcome to the club and for the people who read thru twice, read once more if you must. Now that you thought Merger & Acquisition, let me test if you are worth your salt..can you tell me if it will be profitable to M&A Greece with EU so that the Greeks as a nation can be a matter of history much like its famous people like Aristotle and the gay Alexander? Before you answer that, I am not interested any more. Before I tell you that this was not the expansion I had in mind, I must admit I belonged to the second segment,went to a VERY ETHICALLY ORIENTED bscul where I was told I had no chance in the same, so let's continue...
Today I was discussing something quite serious with a good friend, when he suddenly said something about the Arranged-Marriage marketplace in India. That and my tendency to connect dots, gave birth to this post. Couple of days back, the eminent newspaper ET carried a very heart-rendering account of how Indian EVES are the most stressed of their race in the MILKY Way if you must. The venerable ET said that these were the beacons India was looking askance for deliverance and how the India (mind you not Bharat) should focus on saving these Eves, now that the 1411 Tigers of India have been saved (psst...heard on the street Ratan will soon have an illegit successor, a striped Royal Bengal T of all, thanks to the bad M..so make dat 1412 at least ;-)). Well back to the topic at hand, theEVES (sounds suspiciously like ;) ) are stressed with work and to digress a little, if you know what NSSO is and who TCA Anant is then you will also know that there has been a serious slide in EVE's participation in the Indian labor (pun intended) force by about 600 basis points,this again may be Greek (pun intended yet again...for the more aware of the set not reading this that is almost the spread on Bunds and Greek bonds hence the pun) to some of us. In short, let's say it is worrisome. Of course for UPA not for me. Some chic CHICK economist thot that this provided a ripe opportunity to champion Women's Lib yet again ( thank God she thought better than burning her upper innerwear unlike her ancestors) and wrote some mind-numbing shit on ET with a rider thrown in the views were her own only to which I wanted to ask, why did she bother to pick the pen up then...spare us economic analysis..economics is not CHICK Lit after all. Now back to the topic of distressed EVEs.
So what bothers them or shall we say Distresses them (jingles with Mistresses..i m wicked i know :D). The list lists the usual suspects - being-made-to-study-more-than-would-have-been-good-for-them followed by a thing called Career (the respondents were as ET said first-time-women-workers-from-their-families mostly) followed by another thing called Marriage(M) which helped by some fine-but-horny highly-educated-young-Indian-males leads to another thing called Baby which eventually leads to some kind of Arrangement(A). Now if you are my target readership, you know what I meant by M&A.
To this concoction, if you add what my friend had to say : He, a fine-young-man-with-an-even-finer-takehome met one of these distressed EVE's father digitally. The parent expressed his willingness to marry off his daughter but threw in some food for thought - why doesn't the fine-young-man-with-an-even-finer-takehome trade his city of work for the EVE's native(u see the family is there). He left a parting comment that the Groom is now expected to be Einstein+Buffet+Clooney (if u follow the pattern none of them are fine-young any more ;-)) To this when I add CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose's tweet which went like “A boys club meeting with editors is hardly the way to reach out to the nation. Shame!” presumably coz she was not invited to the PM's meet, one can only be amazed at the apathy the Indian society heaps upon the EVEs and I say they have all reasons to be DISTRESSED ;-). So maybe ET missed out on 1 more plausible reason for theEVE's distress - Marriage & an Arrangement.
