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No Entry ( A tale of abandonment)

INDIA | Wednesday, 19 December 2012 | Views [330] | View Larger Image

Tapasi, aged 69, spends the entire day rolling incense sticks. After 2 days of hard work she will be payed Rs. 10 (approx. 1/5th of a dollar). She tells us she came here 35 years ago because her family believed that even the shadow of a widow falling on any of them was a curse.

VRINDAVAN- Barred from being a part of mainstream society, widows from many parts of India are sent by their families to live on alms earned by singing bhajans in Vrindavan, a temple town near Delhi. Shrouded in white, a mark of widowhood, these women are denied all their wordly needs. Many of them who came to Vrindavan as little girls, were victims of child marriages.

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'Amar badi' (meaning 'Our Home') is an NGO which adopts some of the widows. Mira, a young school girl often visits the home to spend time with these women who love to regale anyone with a patient ear with stories from what many consider their “past life”. Their lives are marginally better at Amar Badi with a roof over their head and food. Not all women wear white here.

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No Entry ( A tale of abandonment)

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