Indian Men Dig Mills & Boon Too

Via the Literary Saloon, an article in the Economic Times on the upcoming formal distribution of Harlequin Mills & Boon romance novels in India. These novels have of course been available in South Asia for many years — but mostly via redistribution and consignment. It’s only now that Harlequin is planning to start distributing its books in India directly:

For most Indian readers, it will come as a surprise that M&B was never actually distributed in India. The novels have been so much a part of our lives, stacked in the hundreds in circulating libraries, borrowed dozens at a time by women (especially in hostels, where the trick was for one girl to borrow them and ten to read them the same night), laid out for sale second hand on pavements.

We’ve seen the special sections in large bookshops, shelves aching with romantic desperation, anguish and fulfillment. We’ve fantasised about the busty heroines and tall dark handsome heroes on the covers. We knew about all the different varieties of novels: nurses, Regency, exotic settings and so on. And exactly how we knew all this we would never say since like most people we would never admit to reading M&B.

But all of this was achieved with Harlequin ever selling directly. “We had some idea about this market, but we never really followed it up,” admits Go. “At the Frankfurt Book Fair, we would meet Indian distributors who would offer to take on consignments and we never bothered beyond that.” (link)

Interestingly, Harlequin is finding that Indian men are just about as likely to be Mills and Boon fans as women:

What he wasn’t expecting were the men, “A substantial percentage of Mills & Boon readership in India is male! You don’t see that in other markets.” Go has speculations on why this is the case. Perhaps it’s just the sheer ubiquity of M&B novels, “Their sisters and mothers are reading them and since they are lying around the men read them too.” (link)

(Come on, desi guys — I know you’ve read a few of these. MoorNam? Floridian? Now is the time to come clean.)

Finally, the author of the piece asks an obvious question on my mind from the start — what about the desi version:

But the interesting question is whether, as with FMCG products, M&B will see the need to Indianise their offering. When even a Kentucky Fried Chicken has to offer a chicken curry thali to survive in India, will M&B be able to continue with its offering of Western-oriented romance fiction? Or is this sort of escapist fiction exactly its appeal? (link)

(“Tall, dark, and handsome” might have to become “fair and handsome” in the Indian context. And maybe they could still use Fabio on the cover, only with Shah Rukh Khan’s hair style?)

Incidentally, I have long wanted to write my own pulpy romance novel to make some quick cash, but I’ve been starved for a good (desi-oriented) plot. Can anyone suggest a good scenario for me to use, as I attempt to enter the world of trash fiction popular romantic fare? (The best I can think of right now is an Indian version of this plot. Hopefully I can come up with a better title than “The Rancher’s Doorstep Baby,” however)

104 thoughts on “Indian Men Dig Mills & Boon Too

  1. i’d be interested in more scientific studies of indian people’s sexual habits. and i don’t just mean you, melbourne desi.
    mate so would I. Something on the lines of Kinsey.

    They come out with reports in Indian mags like India TODAY and others, time to time.

    I remember reading one about 3-4 years ago while there that was dedicated to that. Wished I had saved it. And another one that was dedicated to the topic of DIVORCE in India(that word was bolded on the front cover), which also touched upon sexuality and the changing attitudes regarding it. Then there was the issue all about the POWER GODDESS, again, those words bolded on the front cover, that talked about the changing Indian woman and touched upon sexuality as well. That word was bolded on the front cover. And some time ago here at SM I remember reading some findings of a “survey” that was done in India regarding sexuality.

  2. ok – but it’s one of the growing industries that plays a major part in how the indian middle class is expanding, right?

    I agree with you in that it is growing but IT is a smaller player in the overall space than the Call Center /BPO segment. As I said, you are correct in your assessement in that young people dont have heaps of sex (at least not as much as in the West) in India. However Tarta is right in that many young people get laid. However, in an Indian context getting laid requires logistical skills of a different magnitude. ‘Fingering’ is quite common in closed cybercafes. Jumping the wall / fence for a rendezvous is common in small towns.

  3. They come out with reports in Indian mags like India TODAY and others, time to time.

    you are comparing an India Today survey to a Kinsey ? India today studies are trash.

  4. The “dating culture” has yet to reach India outside of Mumbai. Even in Kolkata and New Delhi, where young people do date, it is still frowned upon by many.

    The sweet thing about it is that there still is a “courtship” period amongst many of the youngsters who do actually date. I’ve observed it amongst a few of the urban young people I know and really it appears quite romantic. Wouldn’t mind bringing more of that back over here. I’m sure alot of other women feel the same.

    In small towns though – forget it. No dating. Only hating.

    On school bus trips and outings teenage boys and girls still segregate themselves. I remember seeing one where the girls even crossed the river to “wade” away from the boys.

    The commenter who said there are few socially acceptable places and events where males and females can co-mingle freely was right.

  5. while growing up (in desh), for the longest time i thought these books were written by a guy called milson boon.

  6. On school bus trips and outings teenage boys and girls still segregate themselves. I remember seeing one where the girls even crossed the river to “wade” away from the boys.

    I’ll add even young university going adults in their twenties….

  7. On school bus trips and outings teenage boys and girls still segregate themselves.

    that does not mean that they dont get laid. India is an iceberg – what is not seen is a lot more than what is seen.

  8. with many bidesi desis, they reinforce this idea as a pysycological defense against their own inability to do the same. talk to girls: you mean chat up the girls right?

    i’m female, so digs at my own virility don’t really work here, and a 1.5 gen to boot. this is honestly just my observation. i don’t want to get into Pardesi Gori territory, so apologies if I offended anyone… I guess I’ll have to dig deeper into the seedy underbelly (pun intended) of India next time I’m there. and yes, by ‘talk to girls’ I did mean chat up the ammailu.

  9. melbourne desi, so how about the upcoming test? I hope India give Australia a good fight.

    And looks like the circus is about to come to town 🙂

  10. This is why Indian men don’t get laid… they spend too much time obsessing over cricket.

    p.s. I’m kidding. 🙂

  11. However, in an Indian context getting laid requires logistical skills of a different magnitude. ‘Fingering’ is quite common in closed cybercafes. Jumping the wall / fence for a rendezvous is common in small towns.

    melbourne desi as guest blogger? 😛

  12. melbourne desi, so how about the upcoming test? I hope India give Australia a good fight.

    If they can repeat 2003 then it will be a great test match. I believe Adelaide 2003 was a great win than Perth 2008. It was a victory after staring down the barrel. Sreesanth is quite the joker. He needs to walk the talk though.

  13. Rahul:

    If there are any impressionable 12 or 13 year olds reading this blog, may this elder brother humbly suggest pp. 120, 247-8, 362-3, 366-7, 392, 396-7, and 407 of The Day of the Jackal? Not that I thumbed those pages a million times or anything, but my only excuse is that Moonlight turns even the most civilised man into a primitive.

    Wasn’t the word “alabaster” mentioned somewhere thereabouts?

    Speaking for myself, I’d probably recommend page 28 of The Godfather.

  14. Wasn’t the word “alabaster” mentioned somewhere thereabouts?

    You are a man after my own heart, pingpong. Viens, primitif.

  15. i’d be interested in more scientific studies of indian people’s sexual habits.

    Oh they are there and much goes on under the covers than desis are given credit for.

    as a lad of thirteen or so I remember us getting this book in the mail addressed to mum. it was suitably wrapped in brown paper and tied around with some string. Of course i had to open it. It was a book of common Q&A on sex, as authored by Dr Prakash Kothari. I attributed my mum’s interest in it to be due to her medical profession ppthh obviously and had a very enlightening read – but I had the good sense to wrap and tie it up back again and leave it on the side table before she got back. I thought she would use it in her consultation and would join other reference books in her book shelf. not quite… but the point is – there is interest in the SaiKs, and muchly so, out there. Dr Kothari himself has been recognized as International Man of Sex [really] in Venezuela.

  16. khoofia – for some reason i always thought you were female.

    Telugu magazines (not the ones on glossy paper, but more like Reader’s Digest ones) have similar stories I think. I’ve tried to read them in the past but I’m not good enough, but the cartoon images of the women with their saris slipping to show humongous breasts were enough for me to understand what they were about…

    On that note, I’m tempted to share the 3 times I went desi, but that’s probably TMI for you folks.

    you’re right PG, we’re just a bunch of prudes who are allergic to BS.

    I often fantasized about meeting some tall, medium complected, handsome young man with long curly hair and a bohemian nature in Delhi

    what, Kunal Kapoor from Rang De Basanti won’t do?

    who’s parents had passed away. That unfortunately had to be added into the fantasy equation because I’m such a recluse I just couldn’t see myself bonding closely to in-laws as is normally expected.

    Oh I see… so it’s not the Indian men, but the Indian men’s parents, that are the problem.

  17. I often fantasized about meeting some tall, medium complected, handsome young man with long curly hair and a bohemian nature in Delhi who’s parents had passed away

    Dead parents? That sounds kinky, Pardesi Aghori.

  18. Tarta,

    yeah, yeah, India is shining, all the young folks have pre-marital sex, we’re really advanced now, don’t you know, everything is available here, no need to go abroad etc. etc. etc.? I’ve heard this kind of insecure, hipper than thou statements from upper-class young Indians directed towards overseas Indians so, so, so many times over the years.

    Speaking only for myself, find it the height of immature pride in one’s country to use the incidence of pre-marital sex amongst the upper middle-classes as some kind of index of progress. This shallow and ludicrous trope was probably started in the 1980’s by the pulp fiction writer, Shobha De, who’s notion of progressiveness (imposed from above, naturally) was to assert that we Indians were all screwing around too, ala some Harold Robbins novel. India Today and other magazines have exploited the latent prurient interest amongst the newly urbanizing and upwardly mobile lower middle-class to redefine pre-marital sex in their minds as a form of urbanity and sophistication.

    And speaking of my being “perhaps an ABD ” as you put it… I’m South Delhi born and bred and unambiguously belong to that westernized upper-class of which I speak.

  19. Speaking only for myself, find it the height of immature pride in one’s country to use the incidence of pre-marital sex amongst the upper middle-classes as some kind of index of progress. This shallow and ludicrous trope was probably started in the 1980’s by the pulp fiction writer, Shobha De, who’s notion of progressiveness (imposed from above, naturally) was to assert that we Indians were all screwing around too, ala some Harold Robbins novel. India Today and other magazines have exploited the latent prurient interest amongst the newly urbanizing and upwardly mobile lower middle-class to redefine pre-marital sex in their minds as a form of urbanity and sophistication.

    Yeah, v true. I think what’s be good for India is not more sex but less hypocrisy wrt sex. A we-do-ti-don’t-tal-abt-it attitude is worse than not doing it at all.

  20. read my comments carefully –did i say at any point that young people having sex is “progress” or “good” or that it means that “india is shining”–it doesn’t meet my definition of progress but it is happening; so I am just stating my own observations and and certainly dont consider this to be a yardstick of pride by any means! I was just incredulous at the notions that people have that young indians’ don’t have sex, much less interact with the opposite sex till they are married. I speak from the perspective of someone who works in a government hospital (where there is only the occasional upper class patient but usually a wide cross section) and sees how busy the MTP clinics are—so, it happens, its just not talked about–so i think i raise a valid point when i say that people just don’t admit to these things (and will always keep it a closely guarded secret) because it is still somewhat “taboo” to talk about these things openly. of course, there are probably those IT types who have their noses buried in their books (perhaps an M and B thrown in) and circuits –but then maybe this is just the geek stereotype playing true to type?

  21. did i say at any point that young people having sex is “progress” or “good”

    Why is it not good? Doesn’t the ability of young desis to insert cylindrical pegs into round holes indicate the development of mechanical skills, and allow them to prove that desis, and by extension, DBDs are not underfed, awkward, four-eyed nerds whose noses are always buried in their books?

  22. tarta has a history of comments along the line of, ‘you ABDs with your foolish outdated notions of india that you must be getting from your parents!’

    nala, i think you actually have a fair point when you say that some of my comments come across this way–it is not my intent to criticize ABDs. but i have to admit, sometimes the ABD perspective does seem to be very limited and outdated,–and i wonder where the notions come from and tend to be outspoken about that-but, yeah, i hope no ABDs take this as criticism!!!

  23. Why is it not good? Doesn’t the ability of young desis to insert cylindrical pegs into round holes indicate the development of mechanical skills, and allow them to prove that desis, and by extension, DBDs are not underfed, awkward, four-eyed nerds whose noses are always buried in their books?

    to sm intern : so does rahul’s comment qualify as an abusive comment– ananti DBD comment? it doesn’t really seem to be funny either. just asking.

  24. and sees how busy the MTP clinics are—

    MTP – medical termination of pregnancy. India has had pro-abortion laws since 1971.

  25. tarta – Rahul is being sarcastic in his comment. and i apologize for generalizing based on my experience… maybe i was too young to catch on to all the energizer bunny-like action going on among the indian middle class when i lived there. but even in subsequent months-long stays in different places i haven’t found that it is as common among young people as you say. obviously it happens since there are young women getting abortions as you say, but to what extent?

    Why is it not good? Doesn’t the ability of young desis to insert cylindrical pegs into round holes indicate the development of mechanical skills, and allow them to prove that desis, and by extension, DBDs are not underfed, awkward, four-eyed nerds whose noses are always buried in their books?

    Rahul – you say this as if there’s something wrong with being an underfed, awkward, four-eyed nerd whose nose is always buried in books. BTW, C++ is sexy, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

  26. i mentioned i have knowledge of MTP clinics but i think that perhaps for me to say anything more like numbers of patients etc might be a violation of my ethics–not trying to sound self righteous or anything, but not sure that i should start throwing about this type of info that i happen to be privy to —slippery slope once i start saying more

  27. nala, do you think a month long stay is enough for people to open up to you about a taboo topic? you’ll be surprised–you think its the urbanized westernized kids in mumbai and delhi —thats a stereotype that you have; i am not saying that people are bed hopping or that it is rampant and people are thinking of nothing else but sex–nothing like that; i am just saying that young people will act like young people across all sections of society, indian society is simply not the victorian society that some people seem to say in their comments –this really is 2008 and the world is a much smaller place.

  28. BTW, C++ is sexy, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

    It certainly is. For one, it lets you show your private parts to your friends. The language is in a class of its own, but some people may feel like they’re being treated like objects.

  29. It certainly is. For one, it lets you show your private parts to your friends. The language is in a class of its own, but some people may feel like they’re being treated like objects.

    The best part is, you don’t even have to be in a sophisticated environment (like upper class Mumbai & Delhi) to use it.

    (I don’t know if that’s very funny or even a little bit funny, but I’m just going with what I know… my knowledge of programming languages is limited, despite being a south Indian)

  30. nala, do you think a month long stay is enough for people to open up to you about a taboo topic?

    not a month long stay… several months-long stays, over the years, in different areas of india. some of the times i was working on various projects, and people certainly opened up to me about other topics (their debts, their good-for-nothing children, and so on… though i guess those aren’t taboo).

    i am not saying that people are bed hopping or that it is rampant and people are thinking of nothing else but sex–nothing like that

    that’s too bad. 😛

  31. i am not saying that people are bed hopping

    Some of the most energetic pillow fights I have had were in India.

    BTW, C++ is sexy, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

    I take exception to anybody who doesn’t let me make my member public.

    to sm intern : so does rahul’s comment qualify as an abusive comment– ananti DBD comment? it doesn’t really seem to be funny either. just asking.

    I will try to be funnier next time. Can’t promise though.

  32. Many women in India seem to flower post marriage…. and more willing to experiment.

    Now, don’t tell me your dad’s friend’s wife was Mrs. Robinson. In any case, I hope you’re sticking to the advice given by your elders about plastic, er, plastic.

  33. 71 · cookiebrown said

    I’m South Delhi born and bred and unambiguously belong to that westernized upper-class of which I speak.

    I knew a guy once, who refused to marry if she was raised in any other part of Delhi 🙂

  34. Many women in India seem to flower post marriage…. and more willing to experiment.

    Indian women flower after marriage? Then when do they get deflowered? Does the revirginization theory school of thought have more adherents than previously supposed?

  35. I take exception to anybody who doesn’t let me make my member public.

    hmm, port wasn’t lying.

    Apparently one of the names that M&B publishes under is ‘Mira’… sounds brown to me.

  36. Now, don’t tell me your dad’s friend’s wife was Mrs. Robinson

    na – was not that good to snare a mrs robinson.\

    Indian women flower after marriage? Then when do they get deflowered?

    i meant to say bloom 😉 strange is it not blooming after deflowering…..

  37. Apparently one of the names that M&B publishes under is ‘Mira’… sounds brown to me.

    Dear Everything-comes-from-india-auntie*, Mira is also a popular name in Serbia.

    *Just becuz 😉.

  38. but i have to admit, sometimes the ABD perspective does seem to be very limited and outdated,–and i wonder where the notions come from and tend to be outspoken about that-but, yeah, i hope no ABDs take this as criticism!!!

    try it the other way around, tarta:

    “but i have to admit, sometimes the DBD perspective does seem to be very limited and outdated,–and i wonder where the notions come from and tend to be outspoken about that-but, yeah, i hope no DBDs take this as criticism!!!”

    …oh, the last part doesn´t fool you either?

  39. 78 Melbourne Desi : What exactly do you mean by “pro-abortion”? Certainly not abortion-on-demand, which Indian law does not make legal.

    http://pewforum.org/docs/index.php?DocID=167 suggests that Indian law dodges the issue as do many other countries. My abortionist cousin, who worked a lifetime in “family planning” clinics in the poor sections of several cities, tells me that doctors routinely fill out forms claiming endangerment to mother or fetus, and that the government does not ask questions. This is not quite “pro-abortion laws since 1971”.

  40. Dear Everything-comes-from-india-auntie*, Mira is also a popular name in Serbia.

    As are Mina, Maya, etc. These are pretty much universal names.

  41. Suggested reading (I found it enlightening) — “Intimate Relations : Exploring Indian Sexuality”, Sudhir Kakar, Penguin Books, 1990

  42. I was just incredulous at the notions that people have that young indians’ don’t have sex, much less interact with the opposite sex till they are married.

    I believed that for a really long time, and it was totally because of my parents. It’s embarrassing in retrospect, but I really had no way of knowing otherwise. “Only American kids do bad things like date when they’re in high school and have premarital sex. Indian kids are good kids and always wait till marriage!” etc. But granted, we moved from India when I was a baby and I’ve only been back twice for 2- and 3-week visits, and until fairly recently, the only DBD relative around my age that I was at all close to was my really sweet cousin who’s rather naive about the world, and who once asked me (in hushed tones of incredulity), “So…do you have…a boyfriend?” When I asked him if he had a girlfriend, he sounded shocked by the prospect.

    (Now I’m in regular touch with more distant family who’s closer in age and mentality to me, so I’ve learned a lot, for sure. And reading SM has taught me a ton.)

    And I only found out in the last couple of years, when my parents expressed concern over the fact that I haven’t brought home any boys yet, that my dad would bring girls home all the time when he was my age, to the point that his parents were concerned that he’d never be serious about anyone. And one girl even turned him down because he wasn’t ready to sleep with her. (But that gets into major squick territory, thinking about my parents in that context.)

  43. #78 Melbourne Desi : What exactly do you mean by “pro-abortion”? Certainly not abortion-on-demand, which Indian law does not make legal. http://pewforum.org/docs/index.php?DocID=167 suggests that Indian law dodges the issue as do many other countries. My abortionist cousin, who worked a lifetime in “family planning” clinics in the poor sections of several cities, tells me that doctors routinely fill out forms claiming endangerment to mother or fetus, and that the government does not ask questions. This is not quite “pro-abortion laws since 1971”.

    mate, I have been the cause of two abortions in two different cities and have had no trouble with the doctors. Both of these are private clinics – one a premier one and one a small one. Dont know if the docs filled out such forms claiming endangerment etc. Cost < $75. From your link – Abortion is available through the 20th week of pregnancy to save a woman’s life, to protect her physical or mental health, in cases of rape or fetal abnormality and for social or economic reasons. The last reason is what I meant by abortion on demand.

  44. From your link – Abortion is available through the 20th week of pregnancy to save a woman’s life, to protect her physical or mental health, in cases of rape or fetal abnormality and for social or economic reasons – the last reason is what I meant by ‘abortion on demand’