The recent Rs 370 biryani controversy generated predictable outrage. A young man at a comedy show suggested that since he had paid for a woman's meal, he was entitled to some sexual favours in return. The audience laughed. Social media reacted with anger and criticism.

Yet what interested me was not the young man.

It was the audience. They laughed.

What made the episode even more intriguing was what happened afterwards. Once the clip found its way to social media, many of the same kinds of people who might have laughed in a crowded auditorium condemned it. The remark had not changed. The setting had.

That contrast brought back a memory from several years ago.

I was at a gathering where a group of men continued to joke about their wives. They were supposedly terrified of them. They could not spend money without permission. They could not make decisions without approval. Every comment drew laughter from the audience.

At first, I ignored it. We have all heard such jokes before. But as the evening progressed, I became increasingly uncomfortable. Every comment portrayed wives as controlling, unreasonable or domineering.

Finally, I called........

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