May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons

May 1, 1990
The overall powerlessness of Indian women to control any aspect of their lives became clear to Washington Post reporter Bumiller when she investigated incidents of ``bride burning'' (husbands setting fire to their wives and making it look accidental) and sati , wherein a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre. Based on her four-year residence in India, this perceptive, alert travelogue considers the prevalent custom of arranged marriage, India's scattered, budding feminist movement, population control, female infanticide, and the legacy of Indira Gandhi, a nonfeminist who ``largely ignored those of her own gender.'' Bumiller's shifting portrait gallery includes impoverished village women who start producing babies at age 14, Calcutta painters and poets, a New Delhi policewoman, and Bombay actresses who lead a ``schizophrenic'' existence as they personify traditional morality on celluloid while leading Hollywood-style love lives off-camera. Photos.

April 29, 1991
The overall powerlessness of Indian women is shown through a discussion of traditions and portraits of typical individuals. ``Based on Bumiller's four-year residence in India, this perceptive, alert travelogue considers the prevalent custom of arranged marriage, India's scattered, budding feminist movement, population control, female infanticide and the legacy of Indira Gandhi, a nonfeminist,'' said PW. Photos. Author tour.