Are all family members supportive and encouraging? Will all the educated parents make difference in their children’s lives? Will getting a degree from the reputed institutions fetch wisdom? Is parenting the most important factor in shaping the child’s life? Will parents’ frustrations on the children leads to heartbreak and causes demarcation in family life? Let us not wait to hear all the answers from the story about a girl, Manu.
Manu was born at Surat to highly educated parents. Manu parents did Love marriage by opposing their families and breaking the norms of the then society. This portrays Manu’s parents independent, unconventional and courageous nature. Undoubtedly, Manu inherits all these qualities from her parents.
Manu’s father works in the Research and development department in a private organization, in Surat. Her mother works in a Government school in Surat. The journey was smooth and hassle free until Manu’s dad gave up his job. He always had high expectations and started rejecting the offers thinking that the offered professions were not meant to him. He was frustrated by the thought that he had no job and was spending time at home. This is when he started showing the brutal side of his personality.
Manu’s dad initially started verbally abusing wife and daughter and then continued with his physical abuses. Manu shared that “My childhood was a nightmare and started growing up being afraid of my father always. I was always inactive in school and frightened by my father’s actions”. In spite of not supporting the family financially, he was never encouraging. He always wanted to become an entrepreneur but his finances did not support him. Manu’s mother started giving him half of her salary to support him in building his enterprise. But her efforts went in vain.
Manu’s father never supported his family and was always selfish. The only thing he is good at is showing his frustration with the family members without taking the family responsibilities on his shoulders. He was neither a good husband nor a good father who always failed to fulfil his promises. During Manu’s college days, he promised to pay the college fees but did not. One of the most shocking incidents was when Manu had imprinted the tattoo “Mamma’s little girl”, he wanted her to move out of the house as a girl should not make tattoos on the body. He always showed a great discrimination and superiority.
Manu was always disturbed by her father’s immoral behaviour. She received physical harm from her father not only in school days but also during her college days without any reason. But she always had great respect to her father where she had left her opportunities in Ahmedabad and moved to Surat when he suffered a severe heart attack.
Manu’s dad was very commanding and started deciding every basic thing which includes insisting her on getting married to a Brahmin guy. He betrayed that he is going to kill her if she marries a non-Brahmin guy. She realized the importance of life partner and decided not to give the choice to her family.
During her college days, she met a person and dated for quite some time but stepped out of the relationship as he could not give a long-term commitment. This is when she realized that heir ideologies differ and decided to move on. Manu continued her life, studying at NIT Surat and writing online blogs – WAKE INDIA NOW on Facebook. She started receiving appreciation from other bloggers with similar interests. The interaction started very formally and led to a beautiful relationship where they were falling in love daily. Surprisingly, Manu applied for a lot of internships but got in IIT Madras which was very close to his place. This is what the destiny is, but the relationship dried before blooming as the boy was insecure about Manu’s career growth and success. The loved one blocked her and stopped all sorts of communication. This made her life devastating and led to terrible depression. Manu’s mother came to her rescue by guiding and supporting her as mothers always do. The point of ideologies failed in keeping up their relationship. Manu then decided to take a long time in deciding the partner. She then met an IIM Ahmedabad guy, dated for one year. And this time DOWRY played a key role in ending this beautiful relationship.
After a series of heartbreaks, she finally met her life partner on a dating website – “Coffee Meets Bagel”. As she already realized that relationship needs a considerable amount of time, she dated around three years and then decided to tie the knot. She received a horrifying response from her father when she told him about the decision. Manu’s father disowned her as his daughter as she was not getting married to a Brahmin. He never respected her feelings and behaved like a monarch. On the wedding day, the father left home for a week without attending the most important event in a daughter’s life. But it never stopped Manu to stay happy.
Thereafter Manu lived happily the life she wished for with her soul mate. The only regret Manu has is that her father did not receive any legal punishment for the physical abuse, mental torture and mainly for disowning her as she did not get married to a Brahmin. He never respected her feelings and was irresponsible towards the family. In Spite of financial difficulties and horrifying experiences from the father she is now successful in her career and she finally found the right man who not only supports her but also loves her to the moon and back.
I hope this story was an eye opener to all the women across the globe that “NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE”. It is the right of every woman to raise voice against domestic violence. No women should degrade her self-respect and should seek justice. There are many “SICK AT HEART” stories where women are beaten up by husbands, in-laws, tortured for dowries, forceful exploitation, molested by own family members.
“It’s time to give a tongue for the bold, to chuck the naive and take a stand, to make use of your little hands, to not silently scream, but to publicly yell for help, to know that you ain’t a luxury suite. Raise voice against domestic violence and physical abuse”