RN Documentary: A Life of Ashes: Widows in India
Series: RN Documentaries
From: Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Length: 00:29:30
There are more than 40 million widows in India, a country that has a long culture of marginalizing them from society. Women are no longer being burnt on their husband?s funeral pyres, but for some of them, their life is a living sati. A woman?s diet, dress, and even sexuality all suddenly become part of the public realm the moment her husband dies.
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Piece Description
There are more than 40 million widows in India, a country that has a long culture of marginalizing them from society. Women are no longer being burnt on their husband?s funeral pyres, but for some of them, their life is a living sati. A woman?s diet, dress, and even sexuality all suddenly become part of the public realm the moment her husband dies.
Transcript
PROGRAMME: vox humana
TITLE: A Life of Ashes: Widows in India
PROG NO: 1007520
PROD/PRESENTER: Dheera Sujan
DATE OF B?CAST: 2+3 Sept 2006
DATE OF PRODUCTION: 20 July 2006
DURATION 29?30
You?re listening to Vox Humana from Radio Netherlands. In this programme, ?A life of Ashes? Dheera Sujan looks at the lives of widows in India.
Music ? ?Rise? Anoushka Shankar tr 4 Naked 2?00
Comp + Perf by Anoushka Shankar. ANGEL Records 0946 3 54950 27
Soon after my 7th birthday my father died, leaving my 37 year old mother a widow. A few months after his death, she did the unthinkable: She handed in her resignation from her good job, packed off a few bits of furniture and her books, said an emotional goodbye to her close knit family and accepted a job offer that would take her, my five year old sister and I to Australia. It was 1969 and Australia may as well have be...
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Musical Works
Music ? ?Rise? Anoushka Shankar tr 4 Naked 2?00 Comp + Perf by Anoushka Shankar. ANGEL Records 0946 3 54950 27
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Posted on November 09, 2006 at 11:05 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: A Life of Ashes: Widows in India
A window to the sad existence of Indian widows.
This is a very moving, thorough story that is well narrated.
Good attention to detail -- visually and verbally.
Well placed sound takes you from scene to scene - you feel like you're watching the story nstead of just hearing it.
The stories from the widows are heartbreaking yet matter of fact.
Some of the Indian women interviewed are a bit hard to understand at times but you get their essence and you never stray from the storyline.
Timing might be long for some station formats.
But if you have room on the weekend or evening shows, this is worth it.