Modern India
Behind Mud Walls Paper

In order to understand India, one needs to understand its villages. Behind Mud Walls does a great job in providing a detailed background of an ordinary village life in India. Since seventy percent of Indians live in villages, it is important to learn about village lifestyle and the changes that take place in it. Only then one can learn about the cities because one needs to understand the relationship between the two in India. Behind Mud Walls provides the opportunity to examine a north Indian village from a non-Indian point of view; in other words, a non-biased point of view. Since the book is broken up into parts by years, it gives the reader a great way to examine the changes that take place in …show more content…

They started to show more head and face unlike before. When women went out in the fields to work still wore long sleeve blouses and had their head covered. The ones who worked in their own courtyards or left their house briefly started wearing dhotis which was something shorter than saris and other traditional long sleeve garments that they wore. (193). This was a radical change. It really showed that times had changed and people were becoming a little more open-minded. The younger generation of women was far more educated than their mothers or sisters and also wore baggy pants (Panjabi suits) by 90s. At times they would refuse to help their female figures in preparing and collecting cow dung, calling it “dirty.” They no longer had to collect water for their families since the introduction of hand pumps in their courtyards. This made their job a lot easier. Women also experienced change in their work. Due to the decline in the jajmani system and male employment in the farms, women no longer worked on the farms. The decline in the jajmani system meant more opportunities for women. Female servants were more acceptable as household servants. The decline in the purdah also helped women since now they could get their own water without males, carry their own messages and pick their own flowers from the fields. (289). They also took part in Hindu rituals. At the same time, one can argue that the voice of women in a household declined. Females were excluded