Marie Claire, Indian edition
This came as a surprise. I expected some international harmless stuff, and found a magazine that actually deals with women's issues. And not only women's, the last one had an article about transgender people, hijras (of which Maria recently wrote in her blog in Finnish).
The 'on your mind' page has a few interesting things from readers, quite different from the western ones. Let's have a look on a few problems that an Indian woman might encounter in her relationship:
and another one:
For the first one, there is the usual advice of trying to work on the relationship to make it work blah blah and then in the end something I did not quite expect:
e.g. 'get a lover or get a divorce'. In a country where brides are burned and domestic violence is almost a norm, I do hope this advice does not lead to too much bloodshed.
Cosmopolitan, again the Indian edition
Now this seems to be normal international bullshit with a few changed images. What makes it interesting, in addition to the lingerie ads, is the contrast to the apparent values of Indian society. In a society where openly talking about premarital sex seems to be a taboo, the following advice what to do to your boyfriend (not husband!) is almost scandalous. Or maybe the readers more attuned with the Indian culture can correct me.
Anyway, as this is a blog for the whole family, I have censored the words penis and frenulum (although I have no idea if frenulum should be considered a dirty word or not).
Maxim, yes, you guessed right: the Indian edition
While the women are wondering what to do with their relationships, the men are pondering age-old questions about babes in bikinis and the realness of explosions. This brings us to our competition:
Write your guess for the right sequence in the comments! The first one with the right guess will win a real indian edition of his/her favourite magazine of the ones listed above, delivered when I eventually get home! Competition is open until my next post, which will be a little more intellectual and probably titled "tax free for tourists (and everyone else)". If no right answer is provided by then, the closest one gets the price. Cheating will be punished by the karmic cycle.
Disclaimer: I have not bought any of the above magazines and do not endorse in any way buying any of these. They belong to my ex-flatmates Karo and Olga, who got them for free at some festival market.
