The marriage ceremony between Shardul Kadam and Tanuja broke the old rituals and traditions of our culture and in no time the couple became the target of internet trolls. Shardul had dared to break the patriarchy and so it was not a surprise that he had to face the brunt of the people.
On his wedding day, after the pheras Tanuja and Shardul had tied the mangalsutra around each other's neck. "I was so happy," recalls Shardul, who spoke to Humans of Bombay about why he chose to wear a mangalsutra.
But when a digital newspaper picked up their story a day later, both had to face 'terrible backlash' on social media. However on the other hand, Shardul and Tanuja's story has struck a chord with the internet, garnering more than 82,000 'likes' on Instagram and thousands more on Facebook.
'Jab they Met'
Shardul and Tanuja met in college, although their love story began four years after they graduated. "We reconnected in the most unexpected way. She'd shared a Himesh Reshammiya song on Instagram and captioned it as 'torture'-I replied back saying 'maha torture'...that's how we started talking," says Shardul.
When they met for tea after a few weeks and started talking about feminism, Shardul declared himself to be a 'hardcore feminist'.
Shardul and Tanuja dated for a year before they informed their parents, who were thrilled. In September 2020, they started planning their wedding.
It was during that time Shardul questioned that why is it that only a girl has to wear a mangalsutra? He announced that he too would wear a mangalsutra on their wedding day.
His parents were surprised and relatives questioned his decision, but Shardul refused to budge, saying that wearing a mangalsutra to him represented equality.
The trolls
"People started commenting - 'Now wear a saree also', 'Do you bleed once a month?' Even liberals started trolling me, 'This is not the way to support gender equality,' they said."
Shardul says he expected some trolling to come his way, but the extent of it surprised him. Shardul says initially his wife was affected by it, but it's been four months now and they are done with the trolls.
