In reply to:

Her! her! her!
- I never realised a "shona" had been happening to me too.

I am so sorry! I have just read through all your posts, hoping to get a clear sign from one of the posts you made prior to my blundering in here, but nothing I read in any of your fifty-seven posts listed gave me an unequivocal answer. This, of course, means that I have been guilty of the most base phallocentrism, for which I crave your indulgence. What makes it worse is that my misconception may have been coloured by cultural stereotyping as well - a perception of India as a very male-dominated society. After a gaffe like that, I think it's time for me make my quietus.