Found this article CNN had from last week.

Ostracized by society, thousands of India's widows flock to the holy city of Vrindavan waiting to die. They are found on side streets, hunched over with walking canes, their heads shaved and their pain etched by hundreds of deep wrinkles in their faces.

These Hindu widows, the poorest of the poor, are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition -- and because they're seen as a financial drain on their families.

They cannot remarry. They must not wear jewelry. They are forced to shave their heads and typically wear white. Even their shadows are considered bad luck.

...
"My son tells me: 'You have grown old. Now who is going to feed you? Go away,' " she says, her eyes filling with tears.

It's disturbing that a person could say such a thing to anyone, let alone their own mother, and simply because she outlived her husband.

In the U.S., we don't shun our widows. We shun all the old and infirm. We're a more equal opportunity sort of culture.