SOCIAL SCIENTIST mature, that is more than thirty years of age, economically established and successful. Silhouette Special Edition had a title called An Independent Wife which only goes to prove that women's independent status was disapproved of but acknowledged. These women were also not sexually naive. The desire between the couple was very physical. This does not mean that they did not enter into monogamous married life. In fact their union points out that even after everything the institution of marriage is still not defunct. In the nineties the difference between an ordinary Mills and Boon and the Temptation series has become almost negligible. There is no more insistence on the virginity of the heroine. Once concupiscence is expressed and established, further questions seem useless. It is now no more an easy task to establish a happy marriage only on the basis of romantic love between a couple. The almost repetitive reappearance of children in the nineties novels is quite interesting to notice. Children need not biologically belong to the couple. Their presence is a constant remainder that children are the only necessary conclusion of a happy marriage. Though illegal partners can find suitable berths in society, illegitimate children are still not so easily accepted. When marriage as an institution is becoming obsolete children act as the cementing factor between the couple, the main reason to continue the institution. Through biological reproduction the reproduction of the patriarchal ideology has to go on. It seems useless to defend a genre which is essentially a mouthpiece of the oppressive familial structure. Yet the all pervasiveness of the idea of romance in an urban woman's life forces one to think seriously about it. The Indian urban elite plus the English educated middle class is exposed to the life-style of the West through the mediums like television and newspaper* Their standards of success is also measured according to western norms. So imported romances seem to be more popular. This is, of course, true of all Third World countries. Also the basic structure of fairy tales being common over a large part of the world, romance stories do not seem alien to the traditional consciousness. So there is a wide acceptance of romance fiction globally. Gossip columns, fashion magazines and advertisements always carry tales of successful romances, everlasting marriage relationships which shape our consciousness, our desires for better living and regulate our identity formation. It is impossible to avoid what is willy-nilly imposed on us everyday. We have thoroughly absorbed the patriarchal assumptions of romance in different forms and through different media it has become very much a part of our