I was born into a small town in a good joint family. After some time, our family separated, and we moved into a separate house from the rest of the family. My father had a good income, so we had a comfortable lifestyle. In fact, we were the first family to get a car in our neighborhood. But then, things started to go wrong.
My father drank sometimes, and those days were terrible. He would cause a scene in the neighborhood and also beat up my mother and brother. Then, one problem came after another. One day, my father broke his leg in an accident. He used to go to work drunk sometimes, and one day he got fired. After that, he started drinking even more. My brother also got into bad company and started doing drugs and drinking.
I felt like my youth was getting wasted because there was no income source in the family. I started giving tuition to students. When I tried to help my father and brother get out of their situation, they didn’t listen to me and even beat me up.
In another accident, my father broke his other leg. In such an uncertain and stressful situation, I started living in fear and under a lot of mental pressure. My mental health was getting worse day by day. I had very low confidence and started gaining a lot of weight.
Soon, my father got paralyzed. My brother was still into drugs. I was nearing 30 years of age and was fat-shamed a lot. My relatives started pressuring me to get married as if time was running out. With no support from my family, I was married off to a stranger.
I thought my relatives would choose someone good for me, but I was extremely wrong. My in-laws were very abusive. My sister and mother-in-law used to regularly torture me and blame me for stealing things in the house.
They slowly turned my husband against me by telling him false stories. He also became hostile and beat me regularly. Even small things like not putting enough salt in the food led to severe punishments. Many times, my husband didn’t allow me to eat as a punishment.
During these times, I couldn’t talk to anyone about my situation. Things were already bad with my family because of my father being paralyzed, and I didn’t want to burden them with my problems.
After some time, my father passed away. At this time, I was pregnant, and the situation worsened. My husband wasn’t merciful even while I was pregnant. He still beat me regularly. One day, he beat me and left me at my home.
I gave birth to a girl. My husband got the news but didn’t come to visit me. He made it clear that he didn’t want to live with me anymore and wanted nothing to do with our daughter.
The news spread in my extended family. All my relatives blamed me for the situation, saying I must’ve done something wrong. They shamed my appearance and blamed me for not looking attractive enough, which they said led to my husband leaving me.
This period was the most difficult time of my life. I lost all my senses and didn’t care about anything—what I was wearing, eating, or talking to. I could barely sleep. My skin caught an infection, and I had no idea until someone pointed it out.
But this time, my brother started being supportive. He stood up for me when my relatives criticized me. He even kept his drug addiction in check.
I then decided to file for divorce. There was a lot of pushback from my relatives; divorce was unheard of in my family. But with the support of my brother, I successfully divorced my husband.
Today, I am a free and independent woman. As a teacher, I provide for my daughter and myself. The burden I once carried has transformed into a fierce determination. The future may be uncertain, but I face it with courage and have never felt so empowered in my life.
~Anonymous
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