Unveiling India: A Women's Journey

by Anees Jung

The women in this book are not extraordinary or famous, and yet their stories and testimonies, narrated here by one of India s best-known women journalists, provide a passionate, often deeply... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140103449
• ISBN13: 9780140103441
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Penguin Books India
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Unveiling the lives of women in India

What is it like for an Indian woman to live in the world of purdah - the system of isolating and secluding married women? What kinds of hopes or fears or monotony awaits an existence where you rarely or never leave a house, hidden behind curtained quarters? Anees Jung, herself reared in the tradition of purdah, left India to explore the world and when she returned, she wanted to know more of the various experiences of women who still lived behind the veil, still secluded away from society. She therefore set out on journeys from her base in New Delhi, talking and interviewing various women about their lives. Those stories, and her reflections on them, are brought out in "Unveiling India: A Woman's Journey". The author encountered a range of stories from the happy to the sad, tragic to monotonous, fearful to courageous. The women she talked to told of how their identity was wrapped up in their ability (or lack thereof) to have children. ("To be a wife, to be a mother. That is what a woman is born to be. Therein lies her identity, her utility, her reason to be alive," said one.) Just as important as having children was the desire to produce males. (She shares one survey that reported on some 8,000 abortions, of which 7,999 were female fetuses.) Some women told of how their lives were dominated by fear, others by poverty, others by exploitation of unfair wages. Some women talked about the monotony of seclusion - one woman who rarely even ventured out of her room (let alone the house), remarked that there was nowhere for her to go and no one to talk to, that by evening each day she was disgruntled, depressed, and unhappy. "To live in this part of the world means to live in a vacuum. Time loses its validity and days their count. There are no weekdays no weekends. I figure my days by light and by darkness and a long unending stretch of just living - no purpose, no motivation, no productivity." Others talked about fulfilling marital relationships, of children bringing meaning to the household or of the role that religion (usually Hinduism) played in their lives. Some were able to share the joys of newfound freedom and self-respect that was burgeoning for women in becoming village nurses or joining the Self Employed Womens' Association (SEWA). In fact, Anees Jung's journey might be described as that of a social midwife, someone who traveled around India and assisted women in giving birth to their voice. She gave women a means, an opportunity with which to speak their mind, share their wealth of good and bad experiences, and to express their hopes and fears. This book is reflective but not maudlin. It is written in a fine style that conveys the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual components of the women who share their stories, nicely interwoven with the author's reflections on their lives as well as her own. India's society continues to change; this book chronicles some of the history of that change in sharing the