Dream Trip 2008: July

Great Travel Moment

These molds of hands at the gate of the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur memorialize the Indian women through the ages who have thrown themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres. As the new widow passed through the fortress gates for the last time with the funeral procession, she would dip her hand in henna powder and leave her imprint on the massive gate. Self-immolation, known as sati, though banned almost two centuries ago, is still sometimes practiced. The stark image of orange hands on yellow wall crystallized for me what is still the plight of women in India, who even now are largely dependent upon men and treated as chattel. This message was all the more compelling because I was touring with alumnae of Wellesley College, all women at the opposite end of the continuum of the female experience.