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There was an interesting comment made by \" friend\" in a message posted below whereby she lauded the women who refused to follow the sati tradition and were ostracised by society then. No doubt these must have been brave women of strength and character and women who are being abused today either by inlaws or husbands need to find the same strength.
But let us not forget that it was the British viceroy Lord Bentick (if I remember my history correctly) who passed a law abolishing sati.
So for all those on these boards who keep cursing \" western\" culture and \" western\" values let them not forget that India has gained a lot by adopting \" western\" thoughts and values.
India has had this great capacity to absorb cultures and make it its own.
India has given a lot to the world especially the art of yoga and meditation, the philosophy of living life by the four ashrams namely, brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyas ashrams. It is indeed unfortunate that these schools of thoughts are finding a home in western countries where you see far many more people practising them seriously by moving into retirement communities voluntarily and dedicating the last quarter of their life to community service,but Indians have chosen to discard these traditions saying they are too difficult to practise!
On the other hand we seem to have adopted the tradition of craving for a son associating, prestige, power and security for a woman who can deliver a son. We have ouselves to blame for creating this tradition. When we give the male child this feeling right from birth that he is superior to the female child how can anyone blame the males for taking the females for granted? This is the root cause of women suffering abuse at the hands of husbands and MILS who ironically are women themselves but will treat the sons wife as a threat to her very own security in old age!
Why do we blame the west when we ourselves have created traditions that are leading our society to doom? maitreyi replied. Your words strike the very foundations of the indian psyche, so even though there is truth in everything you say people will take a long time to digest it. As they say \" sach bohot zyada kadwa hai, pachne mein time lagega\" . It may take a couple of generations to go before we realize the full value of what you are saying. I do not think this generation is ready to digest it yet.