hopeless

An Indian friend recommended a movie for me. I watched it and felt not very hopeful. Not very hopeful for Indian women or Indians in general.

I have never seen a Bollywood film, so I can't say that I understand the main stream Indian movies or the main stream culture of India in any sense.
Actually, the number of Indian movies I saw or watched is single-digit-ly three:
Several years ago, I saw The Journey (Sancharram). A year ago I saw Slumdog Millionaire (does this one count as an Indian film?). A week ago, I watched Water.
They all successfully delivered a clear message: With such visually pleasant spirit-lifting colors mixed in daily lives, India has had significant social problems that are so unpleasant and heart-sinking.

The Journey tells a story of two girls who cannot be together because being homosexual is not accepted and because getting married by parents' arrangement is demanded.

Slumdog Millionaire tells a story of a boy (and his brother and his love) who comes at the bottom of the social economic system and unbelievably (thus got beaten up) wins the biggest price on TV.

Water tells a story of widows who are locked in their world deliberately by the entire society based on a religious textbook that is, of course, written by a human not a God.

If I were an Indian, what would happen to me?
I would an advocate for homosexuals because I am an advocate for any subgroups of humans who are underrepresented for the benefits of those who are overly awarded for their ignorance.

I would not be involved in an arranged marriage because I may not even be involved in a marriage at all. If I want to, it will be my choice, not for the superficial good of a family, or of a name, or of simply I myself being a woman.

I would not win any price on TV. Um..... because I just do not do well with luck or TV.

I would not believe in any religious textbooks. Organized religious groups following some ancient texts word by word simply creep me out. Humans are not sheep. We may follow but we also think. However, many people are too lazy to think but just follow as if they were actually grass-eating without taste. Regulations should be guidance toward the spiritual core, and should not ban human natures such as food, sex, love, pursuing knowledge, or questioning authority. So locking me up for my never-met husband's death would definitely set me on fire.

Therefore, India would not allow my existence on their land. They would say that I am a bad influence and that I have an evil mind and that I shall feel shameful.
In conclusion, India would feel so lucky that I am in fact not an Indian. Hence, those hypothetical statements are just hypothetical. Nothing to worry about. They can keep their conservative bullying attitudes toward women, low-social class men, and homosexuals. They will never recognize the Museum of Sex in Manhattan. They will still welcome tourists (one day I may be one of them) there for yoga and spiritual trips. They are not worried about me at all.

See? That's why I felt not so hopeful after watching Water. I cannot do anything about it if it is true that there are currently 11 million widows always wearing white, isolated, and living in widow houses for their rest of lives. Hopeless.
Only Indian men, rich Indian men, rich religious well-educated Indian men can overturn this thing. Who the hell am I?