Journal 13

Dear Journal,

Today was another one of those uneventful days, mostly because all of us are still so exhausted from the weekend. I think the only exciting thing we did today was go to class and despite being very tired it was actually a very interesting class. Our topic for the day was women, gender and health.

I am often amazed at how stuck people are in their ways. People often tend to cling to traditions; they are afraid of change and the unknown. I am not talking about certain people; I am talking about humans or certain societies as a whole. Why is it that we put so much emphasis on how things used to be done? Why is so hard for people to change even if the world around them is changing at such a fast pace? India, the so-called “land of contrast” is a developing country with about 80 % of the population living in rural areas and an illiteracy rate of about 60 %. On the other hand, India also has a very high-quality educational system, a very rich upper-class and a working democracy.

So how can a nation of such contrasts merge traditions with modernity? How does a nation like India, which is expected to surpass China in terms of population growth by 2025, control population growth, when it is socially seen as a sign of infertility if a woman does not get pregnant after the first year of marriage? How can a nation like India try to legally enforce families to only have two children, but at the same time, socially support patriarchy?

It is these “hidden social rules” that clash with new, innovative ideas developing due to modernization. Modernization is a good thing, but when the socially accepted norms don’t change along with politics, economy and outside influences, things fall apart…