Invincible India

Darrence’s homework will be posted here.

Youtube for India was launched on May 7th, 2008. The url is www.youtube.co.in. People in India suspect that this is just the beginning of a great relationship that Google/Youtube will have with India’s other companies. YouTube India is supposed to bring a lot of traditional entertainment onto video for the rest of the world to watch.

To read more about this article, click here.

Marriage Dowries
Brooke, James. “Dowry Too High. Lose Bride and Go to Jail..” The New York Times May 17, 2006:

Marrying with money
Aggressive grooms
Rupees demanded under the marriage tent
Reports of abuse
Infinite tradition
Always a burden for the bride’s family
Giving money away with no profit of their own
Expected with marriage

Demanding grooms, that no women can oppose
Obligatory
Woman’s nightmare
Rescuing needed ASAP
Ironic, marrying with money not with your partner
Easy money for the men,
Seding grooms to prison, the women will try to fight back

The article that I looked at was about women’s rights and marriage dowries that were pressured on women when getting married. I think that it is very unfair for the women who have to pay just to get married to the one they love and unfair that the men use marriage as a way to make money, and you know, marriage is supposed to be a girl’s happiest day of her life. The dowries and marriages based on money break that happy dream and turn it into a nightmare. The tradition exists in many countries, but in my opinion I think that India has the worst stories. Because in many cultures that had dowries, they got rid of it, or the women pay only a small amount, just as a celebratory allowance for their new lives. In India, the money they have to spend is not an amount of an allowance, and they pay to the groom’s family and not to their new lives. The men in India who use the women to make money should be arrested, and to prevent dowries from being a huge problem, I think that schools should educate the children about dowries and discourage it. Also, so that changes occur instantly, the government should set a maximum amount of money that a dowry can be so that the groom’s family does not ask for impossible amounts.
1. Why was the dowry tradition created?
2. How have the women of India tolerated this issue until a few decades ago?
3. What is the government doing to get rid of the dowry?

Haruka Fukukawa

THE POTATO MAKES A COMEBACK is a news article published this year 2008, written by Terry Wade who is a journalist of the Herald Tribune. Terry Wade, the author of the article has written this proposal of idea from an outsider’s point of view. Since he didn’t collect the information himself in India, he had probably not thought of the conveniences and reactions of the people in India, and pushed the idea into the ideal plan. He did not consider deeply about how the Indians would take this suggestion, or how they would feel when the suggestion is given to switch their main and most major dish to potatoes. This article was written for the people that are connected to the government, a researcher, or some position mighty enough to influence the food production of a country. Although that would be the main intent, the article is also addressing intellectuals and aware adults as part of their audience too. The aim of the article is to suggest a solution to the world food scarcity crisis, and to educate those who have not considered the problem seriously before. The article is trying to persuade countries like India whose diet focuses on rice and wheat to convert to potatoes as their source of carbohydrates and grains. Also, the article was written so that even if the potato solution is not considered or approved, the readers would get an inspiration of other solutions to this problem. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to suggest the potato idea, or to give inspiration to lead to future solutions. The writer is trying to objective by only stating facts and not opinion, but is also being subjective by listing facts on the positive aspects of the plan, and none of the negative. “…the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable “a hidden treasure.”.” “Potatoes come in about 5,000 types. With colors ranging from alabaster-white to bright yellow and …potatoes offer inventive chefs a chance to create new, eye-catching plates.” “”They taste great,” said Juan Carlos Mescco, 17” “Potatoes are a great source of complex carbohydrates, which release their energy slowly, and – so long as they are not smothered with butter – have only five percent of the fat content of wheat. They also have one-fourth of the calories…” Most, if not all of the facts that are said are boasts to the potato solution, or defense to any doubt the reader may have. The author Terry Wade is expressing his opinion and beliefs, trying to persuade the readers to match his thinking by giving the one-sided facts, but he never directly states his opinion. Also, since the article was written only a few months ago, and food scarcity is a problem that is occurring now, he probably still has the same beliefs and has not taken into consideration the side effects of the solution when writing the article. Therefore, the article was probably mixed with beliefs and views of the situation than rather analyzing the whole scenario carefully.

Haruka Fukukawa

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/16/business/potato.php

This is Yuki