Mother India

Mother India
I am definitely upset after reading the excerpts from Mayo's Mother India. I feel that this book is so offensive to Indian people. Mayo went to India with the intent of writing about it's poor health conditions but chose to write about it's treatment of women instead. I think it's great to promote equal rights but it is not okay for a country or group of people to impose their views on another country. Mayo chose to focus on Hindu culture and the marrying of young girls and their premature pregnancies.
        The reading bothers me a lot because a lot of American and British intervention was a set back for India. "By overlooking the role of the colonial state in its diagnosis of women's condition in India, moreover, the book neglected conveniently any discussion of the decline in status of women of certain classes and groups in India as a direct result of specific colonial interventions in the Indian economy and in Indian culture."(Mother India:Introduction) A lot of the colonizing by Britain has resulted in casts systems that still exist today all over the world. This casts have people hating each other for things like skin color.
        There are arguments in the book of whether India is fit for self rule or should be ruled by Britain. I just can't see how it's fair or how a nation can even think it's fair to control another nation. There are some things that certain cultures value that others do not and it is not always necessary for people to step in and fix "problems". I think that Western civilizations have the tendency to think they are more developed because they are industrialized and so on. It is important for Western cultures to see that other nations are doing their own thing and can figure it out for themselves. It is not always necessary yo step in especially when we are not really needed or asked for help.
       The movie Fire was awesome! I'm glad to see filmmakers like Mehta pushing the envelope. It was definitely inspiring.