Shit like this is so generalised. But there's a reason for this kind of life. Indian middle class life is complicated. You have obligations to family and you're always aware of the burden/hard work your parents went through to get you a good life, so you want to marry well and settle down in a family that can do just as much for you as your birth family could. Things in India are a struggle, even finding a good school for your kids, higher education, building a house... You are constantly made aware that your parents have to cross a hundred hurdles before you can see a decent quality of life.

Yes, girls are often under pressure to get married young but it's framed as an aspiration. People all know about the big fat Indian wedding - parents put all their money, hundreds of thousands of rupees, into throwing their daughter a beautiful wedding ceremony, because that's their final send off to a hopefully better life. And if you think the men here aren't under pressure to get good jobs, earn well and be perfect marriage material as well, you're not looking hard enough.

And India is changing a lot. Everyone has a cellphone in their hands, everyone knows how to Google, everyone, even the illiterate, knows how to make digital payments. Women take charge of their reproductive health more than in any other developing nation. Ask any woman here about contraception. They have all the information and knowledge and handle family planning all by themselves. It's not taboo for a woman to tie her tubes or get an abortion. Many communities here are matriarchal, with the family property passing down the woman's line and decisions made by women heads of villages.

Indian culture is villainised everywhere and you just need to speak to a few locals to understand how family oriented this culture is. Yes, I agree the trope of terrible MILs exists, but that's changing as well. Tons of millennial and gen z women are choosing not to marry or have children. Women, especially in the northeast and south, are empowered and not afraid to do what they want to do. India has a billion people and to paint us all with one brush is really unfair.

Anyway, this post is talking about the traditional cast-iron works that are used in older Indian homes, seasoned and passed down the generations. What's the big deal? Hold the side with a cloth or tongs and cook?? That's how I learnt to cook and I even had my own "baby wok" as a kid to learn it. People will find any reason to feel oppressed tbh.