Say “No” to Violence

Lakshmi was once again late to work that day. That was the fourth time that month. Vandana was getting furious. Just when she started washing the utensils herself, she heard the front door open and Lakshmi step inside the house hurriedly.

“Why are you so late …….?” Vandana stopped in mid sentence as she stared at Lakshmi’s swollen face. She had a bruise on her left cheek. Her swollen lips made her face look quite distorted. 

“What happened to your face?” Vandana said as she stepped back from the sink.

In reply to Vandana’s question Lakshmi burst out crying. As her sobs rocked her body, Vandana said “Lakshmi, why don’t you sit down and have some tea first?”

Lakshmi squatted down on the kitchen floor as Vandana made some tea. Through the silence in the room, Vandana warmed up to Lakshmi as any woman does towards another woman in distress. 

Vandana knew Lakshmi’s problems in life. Or so she thought. Lakshmi was married off at a very young age as a second wife to Raghu who was much older than Lakshmi. Raghu’s first wife bore no children and hence he was on the lookout for another wife. Lakshmi’s parents who were hardly surviving on a single meal per day thought it was Lakshmi’s chance to have at least three proper meals a day as Raghu’s family owned some land in the village.

However, little did they know that the land was already mortgaged towards the debt the family had raised for Raghu’s spendthrift ways. By the time Lakshmi delivered her son, they had lost the property and had to move to the city in search of a livelihood.

That’s how Lakshmi became a domestic maid. While Raghu did some odd chores to take care of the expenses related to his drinking, it was Lakshmi who ran the house. 

Seeing that Lakshmi had gained some composure Vandana asked her once again what had actually happened. After a long pause, Lakshmi told her that her husband had thrashed her the previous night.

Though Vandana knew about Raghu’s drinking problem, this was the first time Lakshmi had come out in the open about physical abuse from her husband. 

“Yesterday my son went crawling out while I was busy working in the kitchen. Hearing him cry, I went out running. He had fallen into a small sump outside the house. Fortunately he didn’t get hurt except for a few scrapes here and there on his body. When my husband got to know about it, he thrashed me up for my negligence.”

“Where was he when this happened?”

“He had stepped out of the house to get something. In fact, I had left my son with him in the living room as they were both watching TV while my daughter was playing with her dolls. I didn’t realize he went out briefly to buy some cigarettes from the shop in the corner. 

After what happened to my son, I felt I deserved the beating from my husband. But when he beat up my four year old daughter saying she should have watched out for her brother, it really broke my heart. She is still a child Akka. What does she know?”

Once again tears started welling up in Lakshmi’s eyes as she uttered these words.

“It’s not your fault at all Lakshmi. Your son was in your husband’s care at that moment. It was his carelessness that led to this incident.”

“But I am the mother. I should have been more careful.”

“If you are the mother, he is the father. He is equally responsible for your children. It’s unimaginable that he hit his own daughter. What kind of a father does that? Never ever start justifying your husband’s actions.” Vandana said as she seethed from within.

“I am really fed up of my life Akka. But for my kids, I would have committed suicide long back.” Lakshmi said wiping off her tears.

“Next time he does something like this, you lodge a police complaint.” Vandana said.

“I don’t think I would be able to do that Akka. But I want to educate my daughter. I don’t want her to end up like me.”

“You don’t want your son too to end up like his father.” Vandana interjected.

“Yes.” Lakshmi whispered.

“Unless you start treating them both equally in your house, it won’t happen. So next time something like this happens, you have to protest and seek help.”

“He may never forgive me Akka.” Laskhmi said looking up at Vandana.

“So what? In any case you are the one who is running the house. You would be better off without him. Trust me.”

“I am not brave like you Akka.”

“Life will teach you. Don’t worry,” Vandana continued “Just wash those utensils and leave today. You rest well and visit the doctor in the evening. Let me get ready to for my work now. You call me in the evening and let me know how you are.”

Lakshmi left thanking Vandana. That’s when Vandana’s daughter Siddhi stepped out from her bedroom.

“One more candidate for you to reform or what Amma?” Siddhi said playfully slapping her mother on her back.

“So you were awake to listen to our conversation. Were you?”

“How can I sleep with both of you talking so loudly?” Siddhi retorted as she began to get ready for her online classes.

As she looked at her daughter who had grown into a confident and smart teenager, Vandana let out a sigh of relief realizing that both of them had come a long way from those traumatic and violent days of the past.

This story, based on certain true incidents is submitted on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25.