Nevertheless, it's impossible to watch this film and not come to the conclusion that there's something horribly wrong here. Perhaps it makes sense that hair lying around in a temple is a business opportunity, but I can't get past the feeling that these poor women really thought that their sacrifice was about something else.
As for Sangeeta, the Indian woman in the film who wants the extensions, it is too easy to write her off as shallow and/or ignorant, but there is also an interesting point being made here about notions of beauty in India. The pressure on women to conform to globalized beauty standards is huge and cannot be ignored. Apparently, for instance, Bollywood stars were previously quite voluptuous, but now the beauty ideal is based on Hollywood standards, which of course means skinny . . . very skinny. I felt pity for Sangeeta because she appears to be trapped; both in her belief that having long hair will make it easier to find a partner, and in a society that seems to validate that belief. I was also struck by the filmmakers' choice to make the consumer an Indian woman. That allows the hair to come home, so to speak, and it exposes high-society life in India, making the contrast between the source and the consumer that much more drastic.
Hair India is a brilliant documentary and I salute the filmmakers for their work.
Images courtesy of Arte.
It is quite clear that the author of this article simply has missed the point.
ReplyDeleteTo say that hair lying around is a business opportunity and that the donors sacrificed it for something else is simply indicative of the general myopia that prevails with regards to Indian, particularly Hindu customs. Devotees don't care what happens to the hair - their sacrifice is , in a word, altruistic. If the temple burns, buries or blows up the hair - the tradition of tonsuring will not stop. It is the ultimate sacrifice.
The amount of charitable work temples execute is considerable. Free eye operations, free meals, shelter for all pilgrims - the list goes on. All this takes money, and one way of raising this money is through the sale of hair.
If you choose not to feed a human being or bless a person with the gift of sight, simply because you have some aversion to the sale of hair that is going to be sacrificed anyway - then quite clearly the malaise that is prevalent in todays world has its roots firmly embedded in such ignorance.
Thankfully, the Indian civilization is older that the tradition that appears to be judging it - you cannot hold ignorance against someone - they dont know any better
Thanks very much for your comment. I was responding more to the film itself, than to the practice of donating hair to the temple. It's reassuring to hear that women who donate their hair don't care what happens to it. Nevertheless, watching the journey this hair makes and glimpsing the enormous gap between those who donate and those who consume is striking.
ReplyDeleteWe all have choices to make about what we consume and informed choices are better than uninformed ones. In that context I think the film makers have done an excellent job of telling an important story about the world of hair extensions. If feeding the vanity of rich women is one of the ways that temples can help the poor and the afflicted, then so be it. That, however, in no way diminishes the power of the film.