May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons

"What I find so compelling about it is the way Elisabeth Bumiller creates these personal stories. It’s about women and how they get caught up in being seen as mothers, and especially mothers of sons. This made a big impression on me when I first read it, and I still feel that it’s a very important issue. Even when you’re looking at corporate India today, there’s a huge number of educated women who are going into the workforce. They have high ambitions, but once you have a child, if you want to pursue a serious career – especially if it’s a professional career and not just taking care of a family business – the social stigma is still huge. Even at the top level. That’s why I like this book. And she writes beautifully, of course – all of these books are by people who write really well. Yes, but what’s interesting is that Elisabeth was one of the first people to bring out that there are also very powerful women in India. One of the things we always say about India is that for everything we say, the opposite is also true. I think that’s what sometimes creates confusion for people. It’s something I’ve often said, but Elisabeth actually shows it through stories. She shows that India is a place where you have the archetype of a female goddess like Durga, who is extremely powerful. She has multiple weapons and multiple arms and destroys demons that men couldn’t handle. That kind of iconic archetype really does allow for also seeing women in powerful positions. Yes, because of the personal stories. They give you a sense of the diversity and help to break certain stereotypes. They also allow you to say, “OK, there are certain things that don’t seem to go away”."