[nukkad] The Burning Brides of Bangalore

["aryaone" <>]

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THE BURNING BRIDES OF BANGALORE

[All material in quotes is courtesy of Zenia B. Wadhwani, a sensitive
researcher and author. Paragraphs are taken out of context to suit the
format of this news group, which please factor into your reading. Please
visit http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/gurbir/wadhwanii.html for full
details and an exhaustive, astutely written report.]

In the city which boasts of Silicon Valley status, brides burn on a regular
basis, by night and by day, ending up on a drab bed in Victoria Hospital
Burn Ward, or a cold slab in the morgue, all depending on how well an ill
nurtured lout otherwise known as her Pati, literally Master, colloquially
her husband, and his fawning Mother Dear, did the job of murdering

Ms. Wadhwani writes, "Bride burning, the primary method of dowry deaths, is
another form of violence against women. In a simple sentence, it is the
horrific phenomenon whereby a woman is burned to death by her husband and/or
in-laws because of the insufficient amount of dowry she brings to her new
family ..."

"The exhibition of wealth at the time of marriage is preposterous, but dowry
is not an isolated payment. Rather it is a multitude of installments that
are made over several years. Major occasions such as the birth of a child,
religious ceremonies and religious festivals are used as excuses to demand
more gifts from the bride's family (Gupta, 1982; Gnanadson; Garzilli, 1996).
The groom's family tries to justify taking a dowry from their
daughter-in-law's family for three main reasons: i) to help the family start
a business; ii) to pay for the groom's education which will now benefit the
daughter-in-law; and/or iii) to pay for the groom's sisters' dowry (Desai
and Krishnaraj, 1987; Gupta, 1982; Gnanadson; Ghosh, 1989). Essentially it
comes down to a cost-benefit analysis, however the only forgotten factor in
this economic transaction is the bride herself (Desai and Krishnaraj, 1987).

When the dowry is just is not enough, and no more can be extorted, the
emotional and mental abuse turns physical. In many cases it leads to death,
as it is more profitable for a man to kill his wife and marry another for
more dowry than to divorce her and pay her maintenance (Banerjee, 1996).
While the majority of cases are actual murders, many women 'choose' to
commit suicide as it seems far better than being condemned to a life of
constant harassment and torture. Even many unmarried sisters and daughters
take their own lives in order to spare their families disgrace or financial
ruin (Sherwood, 1997). As such, suicide was ideologically accepted as it
matched culturally specific stereotypes of femininity. For others however,
suicide was recognized as passive resistance (Engles, 1996).

India's capital of New Delhi is purported as having the highest dowry death
rate of all cities (India Pulse). It has also been noted that the highest
rates tend to be found in cities that have high rates of Hindu
fundamentalism. The cities that are incident free are those that forbid the
practice of dowry and caste based marriages (Banerjee, 1996), or perhaps
where the greatest of repression lies. The statistics however, do not
include the tens of thousands of non-fatal cases of dowry harassment, nor
other forms of domestic violence against women.

Dowry deaths have seemingly increased by 170% in the last decade, resulting
in an average of 17 lives per day. These women were either burned, poisoned,
strangled or otherwise killed because of their family's failure to meet the
dowry demands (Moore, 1997). The government of India quotes a low of 4, 954
deaths in 1992 and a high of 5,817 in 1993. Feminist organizations and other
community groups estimate the actual numbers to be much higher (Thakur). A
document by UNICEF entitled 'The Progress of Nations 1997' reported that
approximately 5,000 dowry deaths occur in India every year and expect the
number to double by the year 2000 (Pushkama). Other sources estimate the
number to be as high as 15,000 per year (Banerjee, 1996)."

Bangalore is famous for many aesthetic qualities and is an ancient honored
city. Yet, when one bride burns at night, Bangalore becomes the perverted
Mother who eats her children.

[In the next installment - What to do about it?]

Arya.












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