If someone attractive, you are deemed to be loose woman

Sunanda Pushkar is an angry woman. The businesswoman, who made headlines for her proximity to Shashi Tharoor and her sweat equity of Rs70 crore in the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, tells the story of her true self in an interview to Tehelka.

“It’s been like a medieval witch hunt. I think it’s not even just to do with my being a woman, it’s to do with my being an attractive woman. That’s what makes it even more disgusting. That, to so many people in this society, if you are attractive you are immediately deemed to be a loose woman.
“What have they (media) not said about me! I am supposed to be married to some automobile businessman in Delhi; my second husband is supposed to have committed suicide; I am supposed to have slept with god knows how many men, and I am supposed to be a tart.
“I have been proud I had made it alone, on my own terms, in a man’s world, and in one minute they have reduced me to a slut. Just because I am an attractive working woman in a man’s world.
“I saw a Hindi film called Corporate — it disgusted me. A woman must sleep around with someone to get business. She must utilise her body and only then her brain will function.”
In an interview to Tehelka magazine, Sunanda Pushkar spoke to Shoma Chaudhury about her life, her sweat equity in the Kochi IPL team, and her friendship with Shashi Tharoor. Excerpts:
Would you like to put the facts on record first?
I don’t really want to. My son and parents have already suffered enough on this. How many times I got married, who I dated — what does any of that have to do with the IPL?
That’s true, but unfortunately the absence of facts has allowed everyone to maul your image.
My first marriage was a very dark period in my life. Everyone’s saying Sanjay Raina divorced me, but I divorced him. The truth is Sujit rescued me. He gave me the strength, as a friend, to quit a very painful marriage. I got my divorce in 1988 and went off to Dubai in 1989. I married Sujit in 1991; my son Shivy was born in November 1992.
What about Sujit’s death?
My husband died in an accident in Karol Bagh (Delhi) in March 1997. Sujit was a financial consultant and had run into some financial trouble. But that was less important to me than the fact that after his death, Shivy suddenly stopped talking. He was barely four. I began to look for the best affordable healthcare and that’s how I hit upon Canada. I moved there to help my son.
Part of the muck being thrown at you for having sweat equity in the Kochi team is that you don’t have professional standing that merits it.
I cannot tell you how insulted I feel. The media has said for Rs70 crore, the Kochi team could have hired any foreign marketing firm, why would they pick me?