'Sometimes the strongest women are those who love beyond all faults,
cry behind closed doors and fights battles that nobody knows about.'
This is a story about one such strong woman. Gayatri (Mani) Das. On her birthday, my best wishes to her and to her kindered spirit. May she live long and inspire other less stronger lives.
As a teen, she put up a poster in her room which said WHY STUDY
Father tore it up, screaming, what will you do then, you slut, you whore.
He surreptitiously followed her to college. She knew it and also knew she would be beaten up once she reached home. Defiantly she talked to the boys of her class and went out with them. She acted carefree and her batchmates thought she was too free.
She managed to put up with the verbal and physical abuse till she passed her 12th standard.
Then she rebelled.
She ran away from home. Then saw reason and went back home to endure all humiliations till she graduated.
Instead of striving to become a doctor, as her father wished, she graduated with honours in English.
Next, to get away from her father's abuses, she latched on to the first guy she met and thought she fell in love with.
But she realised too late that he was a loser. A drunk and an adulterer. She escaped her father's hell just to be sucked into another. Being pregnant she thought she could not leave him. So she again faced all the agonies her husband inflicted on her stoically and bid her time, for she was confident she would not face this till eternity. He beat her black and blue, she remained silent; he burnt black holes on her body with burning cigarettes, she put on concealers to hide the scars from the world.
He carried on extra marital affairs in front of her eyes. He even brought his girlfriends home. She put on a red lipped smile for her friends and bore on.
When she could take no more, she rebelled.
First, she completed her masters.
Then she divorced him.
Luck seemed to favour her for once. Her husband had obtained a wine shop in her name. As she did not get anything from him as alimony she fought tooth and nails to retain the ownership of the wine shop and for the custody of her 10 year old son. She won. She brought a small one room apartment for her and her son and sent him off to a boarding school in the Doars. Then she concentrated on the business.
Being a woman, she had to struggle a lot to run the business.
Her 'friends' began avoiding her and gossiped behind her back.
'She's too bold! How can a woman run such a disreputable business! She must be characterless, so her husband left her!' And so on.
The men who came to to the shop, thought her to to be easy and free. She thwarted their unwanted attention firmly and sweetly so that she did not lose clients and the men came ro admire her grit.
She carried on. She lived on.
Her business thrived.
Then, once more, romance peeked into her life, like the rays of the sun from behind a dark cloud, and she thought 'This time it's real and forever.'
She met him in her wine shop. He did not flirt with her like her regular customer and she was drawn to him by his sad eyes. They seemed to tell a similar story of physical abuse and mental torture. Soon they became friends and she learnt from him that he was married and was physically abused by his jealous and powerful wife. It seemed only natural that they fall in love.
However, life would not let her have any chance at happiness so easily.
He was not granted a divorce.
Not willing to let fate interfere in her life, she decided to go away with him and start life afresh elsewhere, unaware that life was not finished dealing with her.
She sold her business and both shifted to Delhi. She found a job for herself, while the guy whiled away his time on the sofa watching TV. He would not even do any household chores and she would have to cope with both the job and the house work.
This ultimately got to her. But she waited patiently. She applied for a work visa in Hongkong and got it. She left the looser guy and shifted to Hongkong where she works as a teacher in an elemantary school. Her son is doing great in his academics and he's now enrolled in one of the most prestigious institue in the USA.
She's free at last. She roams around the world, experiences the most thrilling adventures and is living the high life, living life according to her own terms.
She is a hero. Except for the son, all the men in her life were losers. They tried to bind her down and break her indomitable spirit. Her friends derided her and thought her promiscuos and too bold. But she did not let them break her. She lived and is living life king size.
'Like the Phoenix, she rose from the ashes of despair and soared over them'.
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Gayatri Das.....may you reach the pinnacle and be a beacon for other kindered souls.
Disclaimer- This is the account of a real woman and I haven't been able to depict the emotions as strongly as she might have gone through. I hope she forgives me this inadequacy.
This is a story about one such strong woman. Gayatri (Mani) Das. On her birthday, my best wishes to her and to her kindered spirit. May she live long and inspire other less stronger lives.
As a teen, she put up a poster in her room which said WHY STUDY
Father tore it up, screaming, what will you do then, you slut, you whore.
He surreptitiously followed her to college. She knew it and also knew she would be beaten up once she reached home. Defiantly she talked to the boys of her class and went out with them. She acted carefree and her batchmates thought she was too free.
She managed to put up with the verbal and physical abuse till she passed her 12th standard.
Then she rebelled.
She ran away from home. Then saw reason and went back home to endure all humiliations till she graduated.
Instead of striving to become a doctor, as her father wished, she graduated with honours in English.
Next, to get away from her father's abuses, she latched on to the first guy she met and thought she fell in love with.
But she realised too late that he was a loser. A drunk and an adulterer. She escaped her father's hell just to be sucked into another. Being pregnant she thought she could not leave him. So she again faced all the agonies her husband inflicted on her stoically and bid her time, for she was confident she would not face this till eternity. He beat her black and blue, she remained silent; he burnt black holes on her body with burning cigarettes, she put on concealers to hide the scars from the world.
He carried on extra marital affairs in front of her eyes. He even brought his girlfriends home. She put on a red lipped smile for her friends and bore on.
When she could take no more, she rebelled.
First, she completed her masters.
Then she divorced him.
Luck seemed to favour her for once. Her husband had obtained a wine shop in her name. As she did not get anything from him as alimony she fought tooth and nails to retain the ownership of the wine shop and for the custody of her 10 year old son. She won. She brought a small one room apartment for her and her son and sent him off to a boarding school in the Doars. Then she concentrated on the business.
Being a woman, she had to struggle a lot to run the business.
Her 'friends' began avoiding her and gossiped behind her back.
'She's too bold! How can a woman run such a disreputable business! She must be characterless, so her husband left her!' And so on.
The men who came to to the shop, thought her to to be easy and free. She thwarted their unwanted attention firmly and sweetly so that she did not lose clients and the men came ro admire her grit.
She carried on. She lived on.
Her business thrived.
Then, once more, romance peeked into her life, like the rays of the sun from behind a dark cloud, and she thought 'This time it's real and forever.'
She met him in her wine shop. He did not flirt with her like her regular customer and she was drawn to him by his sad eyes. They seemed to tell a similar story of physical abuse and mental torture. Soon they became friends and she learnt from him that he was married and was physically abused by his jealous and powerful wife. It seemed only natural that they fall in love.
However, life would not let her have any chance at happiness so easily.
He was not granted a divorce.
Not willing to let fate interfere in her life, she decided to go away with him and start life afresh elsewhere, unaware that life was not finished dealing with her.
She sold her business and both shifted to Delhi. She found a job for herself, while the guy whiled away his time on the sofa watching TV. He would not even do any household chores and she would have to cope with both the job and the house work.
This ultimately got to her. But she waited patiently. She applied for a work visa in Hongkong and got it. She left the looser guy and shifted to Hongkong where she works as a teacher in an elemantary school. Her son is doing great in his academics and he's now enrolled in one of the most prestigious institue in the USA.
She's free at last. She roams around the world, experiences the most thrilling adventures and is living the high life, living life according to her own terms.
She is a hero. Except for the son, all the men in her life were losers. They tried to bind her down and break her indomitable spirit. Her friends derided her and thought her promiscuos and too bold. But she did not let them break her. She lived and is living life king size.
'Like the Phoenix, she rose from the ashes of despair and soared over them'.
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Gayatri Das.....may you reach the pinnacle and be a beacon for other kindered souls.
Disclaimer- This is the account of a real woman and I haven't been able to depict the emotions as strongly as she might have gone through. I hope she forgives me this inadequacy.
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