WHOM DO I TURN TO?

Having relived the happy times again, she closed the album for the last time, a single drop of tear trickling down her face. She had no more tears to shed, she had no more emotions left inside her...she was void of them now....  On the cover of the album was scribbled...'happy days'... They were indeed happy days. She thought she had married the best man on earth, only to be proved wrong after a few months of marriage....

She was happy that she was marrying a man just like she had always wanted...smart, handsome, understanding and a man full of surprises. After a few days of their being together, the clouds of love started to scatter, with the beginning of arguments between them, from small to huge. Sometimes a sorry was enough to make-up and sometimes it took a day or two to start talking again.

He had bestowed the sweet and loveable surprises first....to keep the wilder ones for a later time. One day she got a taste of that too. He had returned late that night and since the food was not heated properly, came a whopping slap on her face, the red mark of his five fingers leaving a temporary mark on her face, but with a permanent effect on their marriage. She tolerated a few more blows, over a month or so, and when she could take it no more, she left for her parents' place.

She was made to understand that running away like this is not good, society will look down upon them if she returns to her parents' place in this manner. She went back, only to be hit more harshly and more frequently. The hands were replaced by leather belts, one or two strokes became five-six. The five-fingers red mark changed to blue-black patches of the fist blows, the red striped lines of the belts, and the dirt covering another set of blue patches from the soles of his shoes.

She cried to herself. She had no one to talk to. She felt embarrassed for the situation in which she was. She felt guilty and thought it was all her fault. She did not want to turn to her parents, they would not understand. She could not turn to her friends because she was ashamed of her present situation. When she could see no other option, and when she was completely broken and could not endure any more, she chose the easiest way out, SUICIDE.......

So many ladies suffer from such domestic violence. Most of them keep numb, keep shut about their situation, feeling embarrassed, scared. They do not know how to deal with such situations. They either continue to suffer the pain silently or choose the easier way out- to run away or simply death. Very few take up the courage to report against such monsters and make sure they are rewarded with the right punishment.