ASIA / PACIFIC
April 4, 2016
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
Breaking taboo, Hindu widows celebrate festival of colors
By Biswajeet Banerjee
The Associated Press
RINDAVAN, India — Aruna
Samaddar threw fistfuls of colored
powder into the air. Blue and red
and green, the cheerful colors settled on
her white sari and all over other women
nearby.
In most of India, widows like Samaddar
have no place in this joyful celebration of
Holi, the Hindu festival of colors. The
country’s millions of observant Hindu
widows are expected to live out their days
in quiet worship, dressed only in white.
They are typically barred from all religious
festivities because their very presence is
considered inauspicious.
So for Samaddar, the celebration was a
joy long denied.
“I am so happy. I am playing Holi after
12 years. I am happy, very happy,” said
Samaddar, who appeared to be in her early
30s. The powder made her white sari and
those of the widows around her shimmer in
myriad colors.
So deep is the ostracization of widows
that they’re often shunned by their
families and forced to seek shelter in
temples.
The holy city of Vrindavan, in India’s
Uttar Pradesh state, is known as the City
of Widows because it has given so many
women shelter. And in recent years,
widows have found a bit of color and joy as
well.
Aid group Sulabh International has
been organizing regular Holi celebrations
in Vrindavan since 2013. Samaddar and
more than 1,000 other widows gathered in
the courtyard of one of the city’s oldest
temples — devoted to Krishna, the most
playful of the Hindu gods.
V
Hindu priests chanted religious verses
as hundreds of widows splashed colored
powders and played with water pistols
filled with colored water. Showers of
flower petals filled the air.
As loud music blasted, the younger
women jostled each other as they played
with the colors.
For dozens of older women, years of
social conditioning proved hard to break.
They applied only tiny dots of color to each
other’s foreheads.
“Their participation in Holi symbolizes a
break from tradition, which forbids a
widow from wearing a colored sari, among
many other things,” said Bindeshwar
Pathak, the head of Sulabh International.
Sulabh was asked to oversee the lives of
widows of the city by India’s Supreme
Court following news reports of the widows
being forced to beg for food and resorting to
prostitution. While there are tens of
thousands of widows in Vrindavan, the
group has been appointed caretaker for
about 1,500.
The organization looks after their basic
needs and gives them a stipend of 2,000
FESTIVAL OF COLORS. An Indian Hindu
widow lies on a bed of flower petals during Holi cele-
brations at the Gopinath temple, 112 miles southeast
of New Delhi, India. A few years ago, the joyful cele-
bration was forbidden for Hindu widows. Like hun-
dreds of thousands of observant Hindu women, they
would have been expected to live out their days in
quiet worship, dressed only in white, their very pres-
ence considered inauspicious for all religious festivi-
ties. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
rupees ($30) to buy essentials. They are
taught to make incense sticks and
garlands to ensure they can earn a small
amount of money on their own. But for the
most part, the women spend the day
singing hymns to Krishna, for which they
earn 10 rupees (15 cents).
The women range in age from 22 to 100.
Some were abandoned by their families
decades ago.
While
some
women
were
not
comfortable joining in the celebration of
colors, Samaddar was determined to have
at least one day of cheer.
“We have got just one day to celebrate
life,” she said as she tossed the colors
joyfully. “Let’s do it to the hilt.”
High-speed Mercedes crash ignites uproar
By Jocelyn Gecker
The Associated Press
B
ANGKOK — The dashcam video is
jaw-dropping: On a virtually emp-
ty stretch of highway, a midsize
car is seen travelling in the slow lane.
Suddenly, a black Mercedes-Benz zooms
into the frame and rear-ends the car at
tremendous speed. Within a split second, a
cloud of smoke and debris fill the video
screen.
What happened next is now well known
in Thailand and the focal point of growing
outrage. The midsize car burst into flames
and the couple inside, both graduate
students in their 30s, died at the scene of
the accident. The Mercedes driver, the son
of a wealthy Thai businessman, survived
with minor injuries and refused both
alcohol and drug tests — and his wishes
were respected. Police say he was driving
at an estimated 150 miles per hour.
Since the video was widely shared on
social media, the fatal March 13 crash has
reignited a debate about the impunity of
the rich and well-connected in Thailand. A
similar debate raged in the U.S. with the
case of a Texas teenager who used an “af-
fluenza” defense in a deadly drunk-driving
Continued on page 13
Before 1905, Portland’s
Chinatow n was located on
SW Second Avenue.
RIDE MAX?
Track work will disrupt MAX service
May 8–21
We’re making much-needed improvements to the
MAX tracks along 1st Avenue in Portland City Center
to help trains run on time. Sunday, May 8, through
Saturday, May 21, the Blue and Red lines will run on
different routes downtown. The Green Line will run
between Clackamas Town Center and Rose Quarter
only. All MAX lines will run less frequently, and trains
will be crowded.
To see how your trip will be affected,
visit trimet.org/firstavenue.
Old Chinatown, Portland, Oregon, ca. 1900
Oregon Historical Society Research Library, bb002460
Chinese American:
Exclusion / Inclusion
Closes June 1, 2016
Beyond the Gate:
A Tale of Portland’s Historic Chinatow ns
Closes June 21, 2016
FREE ADMISSION
for Multnomah County residents!
1200 SW Park Ave., Portland • www.ohs.org