Roles reverse in the rush of Metro life

Roles reverse in the rush of Metro life
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Jayant calls himself a metrosexual. Not of the Beckham mould. Actually, Jayant would cheer Figo, rather than the British icon.

Sans polished nails or braided locks, Jayant’s metrosexuality is confined to kneading ‘chapati’s, running the washing machine and a bit of potty service for his two-year-old girl.

‘‘It has become a necessity now,’’ he says, ‘‘when both of us work through the day, it no more becomes a forced affair.’’ He points to his wife seated beside him. Jayant is a project manager at a leading software firm in the city and his wife Keertana, a call centre professional.

Jayant and Keertana roughly define the changing profiles of the professional couples in the city of cyber cool. When household chores are done jointly, there is less chance for brooding and more for intimacy, which is otherwise lacking among time-pressed couples.

Bindu is a Project Manager at Huawei Technologies whose schedule kicks off at nine in the morning and ends sometime in the night. She says it’s a great relief to have a husband who helps her out with the household chores. Like many others, they have also divided the daily work among themselves.

When her husband Vinod, Project Manager with Prism Software, takes care of ‘chapati’s, packing lunch boxes and buying groceries, Bindu would look after their four-year-old daughter and prepares lunch.

‘‘Vinod doesn’t have the patience to take care of the kid,’’ says Bindu. Vinod, a very affectionate father, quickly defends, ‘‘No, even I have taken care of her at times.’’ Bindu says her father was more forthcoming when it comes to helping his spouse. Pitched against him, her husband is indolent. ‘‘But he has changed a lot from what he was, thankfully,’’ quips Bindu.

For Vinod, it could be his wife’s busy calendar that demanded a transformation but Harish, Project Manager with Tayana Software Solutions, says he would have been the same even if his wife was a housewife.

‘‘Marriage means sharing,’’ he says adding that he has no qualms about doing ‘anything and everything.’ His overseas assignments as a bachelor taught him the first lessons in cooking and other chores and he continued to do it without inhibitions.

And Harish isn’t perturbed by a possible hen-pecked tag among others. With the changing work culture in the metropolis, it’s not just the lifestyle or the bank balance that is booming. The cross-sectional face of the Bangalore couple has also gone in for a face-lift.

Husbands now come in less fussy packages as well, and wives are no longer the home birds who just cook and clean. With women finding themselves pushing their way up the social ladder, husbands are now okay with playing the perfect foil. And that, is a positive sign.