Mrs. Chatterjee and the cultural shock

Sooo watched any movies lately? I (ahem with my extremely busy schedule) recently watched Rani Mukherjee’s Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway and as you might have guessed, this blog is about a very mature ( unlike me !)  topic of Norway’s welfare system and differences in culture.

For the unversed, the movie is mainly about children being snatched away (literally) from their parents by the social services of Norway for a variety of reasons that were twisted and false. The movie is about how a mother fights an entire country's system  to get her children back and is based on the real life of Sagarika Chakraborty.  The movie is a tear jerker and has  made its audience very emotional by the time it ends.

Norway is a developed country with high standard of living, education and social development. It is also one of the highest ranked country on the world happiness index but is it really that happy? Sagarika Chakraborty’s case has raised eyebrows at Barnevernet, its welfare system. Child welfare rights are indeed very important but not when used out of social context. Over the years it has turned into a multi million dollar business and to justify the millions they needed to bring as many kids under their wings. Many reports and parents have claimed that they use excuses like hand feeding, sleeping on the same bed, applying kala teeka to snatch away children. Not only Norway but many other countries like Germany (case of baby Ariha), Sweden etc. also have come under the spotlight for such cases.

People migrate to other countries for what? Better living standards, better salaries and overall a better life! As is said ‘when in Rome, do as Romans do’. If people choose to migrate there, they should also adopt the culture of their adopted country.  However this cannot be done overnight.  In the same spirit, adopting  something intimate and unique like parenting style, to a new culture also takes time and the host county also needs to understand this. There has to be effort from both sides.

One overshadowed topic is the impact on children. Imagine a child one year old child being taken away from his / her parents just because of cultural differences. Putting the child in a completely new environment with unfamiliar people in foster homes is just going to mess up with their development from a very young age. The emotional connect made with biological parents is not something that can be broken easily. Doing so cause emotional harm to the child.  And if the country is spending this much on such an important issue, how about, instead of taking the child away, they should arrange for parenting classes which is a better alternative (please sign my parents up!)

But let’s not forget that all cases are not the same. In some cases the children should genuinely be given a new home. Like, in the movie the father used to emotionally and mentally abuse the mother and sometimes even hit. In that case I felt that the mother should have been supported, otherwise the children would have grown up abused and traumatized. Sure the mother was ready to do anything for her children but the father just wasn’t a good example for the kids. The welfare system should have instead of taking away the children, supported the mother in her fight against the father and made her aware about the abusive nature of her husband. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The case of Sagarika came to the limelight due to this film but there are many such cases that are unresolved even today, and mainly centered  around children of different ethnicities. The children are often taken away when they are toddlers, for the silliest reasons just because they act as a money bank. But I have gathered all this from the limited information sources available (god I sound like I am in a spy movie) and most of the cases are a decade old so maybe things have changed.

But just reading about such cases made me wanna channel my never ending aggression and let it out on someone’s face preferably leaving two black eyes on, well, you know who (I am sure my fists will end up hurting more but that’s a story for another time). People migrate to countries like Norway for a better life. But if a better life means losing someone you carried in your womb for 9 months (men can’t relate), maybe we are better off where we are !

Let it be remembered that human societies will  have cultural differences but human beings  are all tied together through the thread of  humanity.. The  ultimate religion....

Disclaimer:  The information in this blog has been obtained from published news sources.

So do tell share your view on this situation and the portrayal of the same in the movie in the comments. Adios👋~ your favourite blogger!