Modern Indian woman: a kiss-and-tell story

Kissing can damage your career and reputation. This is the lesson that India's most famous actress and one of its well-known female politicians have learned in recent days.

One of these controversial kisses was a social greeting. The other occurred in the latest Bollywood action film. Both kisses have exposed how Indian society is struggling to cope with increasing social changes.

One of the most striking manifestations of this westernisation is the emergence of strong, independent women in all walks of life. But the past year has shown that no matter how successful women may be, they are still vulnerable to criticism.

When Vasundhara Raje, who is Chief Minister of Rajasthan, a state the size of France, greeted a businesswoman friend at the World Economic Forum meeting in New Delhi recently with a kiss on the cheek, all hell broke loose in Rajasthan.

For Ms Raje and members of the upper middle classes, the air-kissing is as routine as blinking. They were stunned at the outrage that greeted her gesture - not helped by the fact that the angle of the photograph published in all the papers made it look as though they were kissing on the mouth.

Conservatives in Rajasthan called the kiss 'obscene' and 'vulgar', vilified Ms Raje for tarnishing the reputation of Rajasthani women and demanded her resignation. 'It's a shameful blot on all Indian women. We have not seen any chief minister in such a disgraceful pose like this ever before,' said Rajasthan politician Mamta Sharma.