Poor widows, a photo from Orissa, East

Photographer's Note

The title is neither exciting nor witty, but I couldn't think of any better, and it is really true. It shows a group of widows (recognized by their white saris) begging outside one of the temples in Puri on the Indian east coast.

When I took this photo in October 1987 I had recently at my office read an article in India Today, a news magazine similar to Newsweek, about the desperate plight of many Indian widows. That was the reason why I paid attention to these women.

In India a woman usually marries into her husband's household. If she is lucky, all is well. If not so lucky she may be treated not much better than a household slave, never really accepted as a member of the family. After her husband dies, she may be regarded as a burden to the family, not even respected by her own sons. She may not be allowed proper rations of food, or may have the jewellery given to her by her husband taken away. Her only hope of survival could be to beg, or retire to a religious hostel, an ashram, where the conditions may also be tough.

During this journey in 1987 I watched widows with a fresh pair of eyes and was deeply moved by the desperation I saw on their faces. I don't think these cruel habits have changed much in recent years, but hopefully they are limited to a relatively small part of Indian society.

Today's WS shows a number of male beggars near a temple in Puri...

Both photos were scanned from Kodachrome slides.

Fis2, ikeharel, ChrisJ, pajaran, Royaldevon, pierrefonds, jhm, jean113, PaulVDV, adramad, COSTANTINO, ktanska, alvaraalto, worldcitizen, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Fis2 (169589) 2021-01-04 0:48

Witaj Gert!
Another curious scene from daily life.
Excellent reportage shot.
I like POV, colors and light.
Women's costumes are interesting.
Well done.
Good morning.
Krzysztof

Silvio1953 (220443) 2021-01-04 0:59

Ciao Gert, interesting view of nice peopleview from cow boy village, fine details, wonderful colors, excellent clarity and splendid light, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

ikeharel (112391) 2021-01-04 1:12

Two pictures with faces expressions, Gert, superbly collected of this (unusual) widows gathering.
Inria as i said before its all about its people.
The WS in B&W is no-less impressive picture from long ago. maybe one ofb them would see himself/herself on TE pictures on your gallery.
Have a nice new week, first in 2021.
Ike

ChrisJ (171146) 2021-01-04 1:17

Ciao Gert,

I quite often encountered beggars in other parts of Asia and even a few in Bengal. I cannot feed and clothe 3 billion people, so would just leave them the torn and dirty small denomination notes that some retailers refuse to accept. I was wary of dragging out my money belt in case I was being watched, so would just get by on a pocket full of coins and small notes for the local buses and a drink or snack. Excellent use of a shallow dof with good sharpness on the 3 widows in white saris. Tfs!

pajaran (114781) 2021-01-04 2:37

Pozdrav.
Lep pogled i trenutak, lepa narodnja nosnja, dobro pokazano sa lepim bojama, kontrastom, perspektivom i dobrim tekstom.
Dobar rad sa lepom crno belom fotografijom u radionici.
Lewpe fotografije i uhvaceni trenuci.
Zelim vam sve najbolje u novoj nedelji koja je pocela.
Paja.

Royaldevon (85576) 2021-01-04 3:07

Hello Gert,

This is a very good scan!

I found myself feeling quite emotional as I read your notes! It seems so horrible to find that families, even sons, could cast the lady/mother from the family home, without any form of sustenance! It is worse than treating an animal!
The ladies are holding hands, maybe for guidance or to show that they do care for each other!
The shallow dof focuses attention on these poor ladies, who should be respected.

Your inability to film those in even dire straits, perhaps shows how saddened you were!

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

pierrefonds (113474) 2021-01-04 4:47

Hi Gert,

You have captured well the sad expression of the women. The point of view is showing the details of their clothings. The light is enhancing the colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

jhm (211734) 2021-01-04 5:03

Hello Gert,

All the people it seems a very busy moment everyone has a strong face
I look always with much attention to your old pictures
You has a nice sharp picture made with almost original colours.
Excellent composition and nice presentation too.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

jean113 (27585) 2021-01-04 5:20

Hello Gert, two very interesting pictures from Puri.
Your notes are very informative, they explain this awful practice and give meaning to this picture. The expressions on the widows faces illustrate what you have described.
Your workshop picture of the beggars, how do you choose which person to give some alms with out upsetting those around? And it is very hard to walk past without donating anything!
Two thought provoking pictures.
Kind regards, Jean.

Tue (91450) 2021-01-04 9:43

Hej Gert,
Et godt billede med de fire kvinder her i forgrunden. Det er en forf鎟delig historie du skriver om hvordan kvinder behandles og som du ogs� skriver er jeg ogs� bange for at ikke s鎟lig meget har 鎛dret sig. Man kan tydeligt se de desperate blikke i deres 鴍ne. Det er s錮an set ogs� symbolsk at de st錼 lidt v鎘 fra alle andre mennesker i billedet.
Lars

jmdias (114150) 2021-01-04 10:50

gert

looks like the widows in the biblical times, but in that time god menaced the people and probably the sons liked their mothers.. yes, india society has some cruel usages we can't understand. amazing flagrant.

take care

jorge

GyurMaster (24668) 2021-01-04 13:03

Dear Gert,

Two photos and both of them are edifying and raise the attention of social problems. I see the desperation you mentioned mainly n he eyes if the women third from the left. I also wonder if the widows have a better fate nowadays, but eg. arranged marriages are still a thing in India. Also, I googled down leprosy and the Wikipedia says that it can be cured by a mixture of antibiotics from the eighties. Maybe this cure was not available in India in that time.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

lousat (138521) 2021-01-04 14:24

Hi Gert,it's a very strong post, hard to digest. The photos do not have the same strength as your words, they do not really show the desperation of widows and men, and if I understand correctly, they show the "best" of this people of desperate people, including many sick people you have had. the decency not to photograph. Many have told me that you need to have a good stomach to visit India, and I got a new confirmation from you. Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

PaulVDV (62746) 2021-01-04 15:28

Hello Gert,
I also remember harsh scenes on the street in India.
But on my last two trips in the south a lot less than when I was in the north in the nineties.
What always stays with me is that in India who asks money really is in great distress. Often people are also grateful for the little you give. Very different from many major European cities.
Someone I know in Brussels blamed me that I sometimes said in to my friends that in India I saw much more poverty than in Brussels (of course) but that on an average day in India I met less people who asked me for money than during a metro ride of half an hour in Brussels.
I haven't heard your story about the widows as such. A very peculiar relationship between sons and mothers!
The ladies in your main picture seem to support each other.
Best regards, Paul

emka (157280) 2021-01-04 20:21

Hello Gert, Very strong note and the pictures. I have red about the tragic situation of the elderly women in India. They have no pension and even in the family they are cruelly treated. Butat least they survive the death of their husband and are not burned withbhim. Very sad for them, as we can see in this picture. The beggars and crippled person are seen everywhere, I didn't dare to make photos.
Best regrads Malgo

I will spend my last three days in Stone Town. I was on a spice tour in Kerala but I would like to see again.

ifege (46851) 2021-01-04 22:30

Hi Gert
A good pair showing widows and beggars. The beggars, in particular, reminds me of of beggars that we saw with distorted bodies (sometimes deliberately) who were wheeled out to beg.
cheers
Ian

everlasting (19680) 2021-01-05 7:54

another fine scan from Puri, the well chosen DoF put the women in focus as you intended with your note and the men in the background. A good daily life tableau.

BTW Thanks for the heads-up Gert, on my duplicate photo, I forgot that I already posted it but of course it would have been easy to check.

adramad (72524) 2021-01-05 12:26

Hi Gert.
What a sad future that of the widows in India and what a wickedness in the country's society that even their own children get to ignore them, so they have no choice but to ask and unite with each other I suppose that to help each other like these four that you show us in the photo.
A magnificent color, which gives the image a lot of chromatic richness.
Excellent clarity and sharpness.
Well done. I like it.
You have a good day.
Very best regards.
Luis.

COSTANTINO (115407) 2021-01-05 22:21

Hello dear Gert
I red your useful notes in order
to understand that here we can see
a group of widows...it is not
easy to understand that these
are poor women because they
are well dressed...this is my
personal opinion....
thanks for your explanation
in detail
regards
costantino

ktanska (44416) 2021-01-06 2:02

Hej Gert,
Again your note gives extra meaning to the picture. Their status would be hard to guess, but it is quite evident they are not happy. And seemingly unsure what to do next.
Kari

alvaraalto (42804) 2021-01-06 4:07

Hello Gert,
We can still regularly read reports about the position of women in India, which indeed give the impression that the situation has improved only slightly since 1987. Yet the women's movement seems to be growing and gaining momentum. I think there are also major regional differences.
The excellent black and white workshop photo clearly shows that also men live at the bottom of society.
Excellent presentation
Have a nice day, groet Rob

kasianowak (17648) 2021-01-11 3:43

Hi Gert
This post is a perfect example of how important it is we write notes. Lots of people would take this photo as just a street shot showing women wearing traditional clothes. It would not occur to them what the white colour of their saris stands for. And it's important we share this knowledge. You learned something from the article you read in 1987 but didn't just keep it to yourself, you decided to share it with us. I'm glad you did.
There is an ongoing debate in the media that emerges from time to time on TE: should we or should we not record poverty during our travels and share those images with the people in our affluent part of the world? I've never had doubts that the answer is a firm yes. People in rich countries should know what is going on in poor countries. We are not a different species for having been born as the prosperous minority. Too many of us choose to live an a bubble. But at the same time we want to use things, often objects of luxury, produced by people who live in countries like Bangladesh or Burma. Everyone should try and at least once in their lives walk the backstreets of, maybe not so much Indian big cities these days but for example Kathmandu or Dhaka. It's shocking but I think we need that kind of shock. We need the knowledge, we shouldn't be turning our eyes away from images of poverty. If we do, we will be less humans than these beggars.
Thanks for sharing this, great post in (the real) TE spirit. Wish I could give more than 2 points and this of course goes to my favs (as does the Puri beach photo).
Kasia

worldcitizen (15930) 2021-01-12 20:02

Hello Gert,
This is an interesting set of photos. In this main photo, I can feel the desperation emanating from these windows. It is also poignant to see them holding hands. What a sad fate to be turned away after a lifetime of caring for their husbands and families. I hope you're doing well...

mcmtanyel (67507) 2021-07-28 20:46

Hello Gert,
I am sorry to learn about the plight of these widows. Shame on a society that won't respect their widows.
Regards,
MT