India, Sept. 22 -- When Nirmal Chandel's husband died all of a sudden of a heart attack two years after their marriage, there was grief but also, overwhelmingly, claustrophobia.

Back in 1989 young widows in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh where she lived faced even more restrictions: No going out even to visit parents; no singing, dancing or participating in any celebration; no bright-coloured clothes, bangles or dressing in a way that would bring attention to herself; not even non-vegetarian food, considered 'heating' and likely to create inappropriate desires in a woman condemned to a sexless existence.

A dull, colourless life stretched out for the 24-year-old.

She endured the deprivation and quietly followed the Rules for Widows. Then a yea...