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Meera
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It had stopped raining and so she furled her umbrella and started walking again towards her home. But she had hardly walked a few steps when she heard footsteps following her from behind. She hesitated, her heart once again began to beat loudly. She turned around but found no one. Was it him who had following her?, she thought. Had he found out her whereabouts? Or was it only a figment of her imagination? Whatever it was, but she felt scared once again. She thought she had left her painful past way behind. Without looking back again, she first hurried her steps and then began to run until she reached her hut and got inside. She felt safe in there. Soon she fell asleep on the cot.
Life had been a hard struggle for Meera all along. Her parents had died when she was still very young and it were her uncle and aunty who raised her up. However she hardly had a happy childhood with them, her aunty used to make her do all the household chores - from washing clothes to cleaning the stable and tending to the cattle, from fetching water from the community tap to washing the dishes, she was made to work from morning till night without any rest nor was she given enough food to eat. Her aunty had her drop out of school long back when she was only nine.
Life, which had been nothing great to start with, became even worse and unliveable for Meera after her marriage to Sundar. Sundar was an indolent fellow who never stuck with any job for too long and whatever he used to earn from his temporary jobs, he would spend them all in gambling and drinking. Meera's aunty and uncle knew all about him and yet they forced her to get married to him because he didn't demand any dowry. It was as if they wanted to get rid of Meera.
Sundar was a drifter and worked briefly at whatever odd jobs he found - sometimes as a coolie at the bus-stop or as a labourer at the brick factory and sometimes as a cleaner at some restaurant. With no permanent source of income, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence. So she started working at the nearest tailor shop to run the house. She was earning enough but her drunkard husband would wrest away all her income to waste on his drinks and gambling bets. So she used to sleep hungry most of the times. Her life quickly turned into hell. Her husband was an obsessive gambler and ran huge debts too. SO his lenders would often threaten her and she had to work over-time to repay her husband's debts. But instead of appreciating his wife and changing his ways for good, her husband Sundar would come home drunk and would beat her mercilessly using any pretext he could find. He would unleash his fury by pummeling her until he tired. Still for some reason, she continued to suffer the brutal neglect and beatings silently. But then something broke loose inside her when one night Sundar came home in a drunken stupor with a man whom he had met at the bar and asked her to accompany the man because he had sold her to him to repay his debt. But Meera fought like a tigress against his advances and somehow managed to run away from their house in the middle of the night. She had got nothing but the clothes on her back.
She spent the night huddled in a doorway near the market and waited for the morning to dawn in. As soon as it was morning and the market opened, she went around looking for some work so that she could pay for her bus-ride to another city. She did find a small job and with the money that she earned, she took the bus and left the city for a new place. She had to start from scratch but being very sincere, she was never short of jobs. Whatever sort of work came her way, she always grabbed it and worked hard at it. It was not long before she got a permanent job as a cook in a restaurant. Slowly her life began to turn for the better, of course she worked hard for it. No one would have laboured more untiringly than she did. She started saving money from her earnings little by little and she had now finally managed to rent a small hut to stay.
It was early morning now, her body-clock had got used to getting up at around that time every day. Another day had started but it felt so different. She could hear the birds chirping outside, as if they were welcoming the morning. Her eyes were closed but she could hear the sound of the dripping faucet. She got up from her bed and looked outside from her small window. It was a beautiful sunrise, she felt as if the rays that fell on her were urging her not to think about her painful past, not to feel scared anymore, instead to continue with her new life. Indeed she felt reborn, far away from her abusive husband and her uncle and aunty, she was happy that she had escaped from a bad dream that had lasted for so many years. Suddenly a sense of freedom had risen up in her. She felt proud of herself for having mustered courage to rebel against her fate. With a roof above her head and a permanent job, now she was confident and self-sufficient. "From now on, I will make my own destiny," she told herself as she looked out of the window aimlessly, "No one is going to make me suffer again".
Life had been a hard struggle for Meera all along. Her parents had died when she was still very young and it were her uncle and aunty who raised her up. However she hardly had a happy childhood with them, her aunty used to make her do all the household chores - from washing clothes to cleaning the stable and tending to the cattle, from fetching water from the community tap to washing the dishes, she was made to work from morning till night without any rest nor was she given enough food to eat. Her aunty had her drop out of school long back when she was only nine.
Life, which had been nothing great to start with, became even worse and unliveable for Meera after her marriage to Sundar. Sundar was an indolent fellow who never stuck with any job for too long and whatever he used to earn from his temporary jobs, he would spend them all in gambling and drinking. Meera's aunty and uncle knew all about him and yet they forced her to get married to him because he didn't demand any dowry. It was as if they wanted to get rid of Meera.
Sundar was a drifter and worked briefly at whatever odd jobs he found - sometimes as a coolie at the bus-stop or as a labourer at the brick factory and sometimes as a cleaner at some restaurant. With no permanent source of income, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence. So she started working at the nearest tailor shop to run the house. She was earning enough but her drunkard husband would wrest away all her income to waste on his drinks and gambling bets. So she used to sleep hungry most of the times. Her life quickly turned into hell. Her husband was an obsessive gambler and ran huge debts too. SO his lenders would often threaten her and she had to work over-time to repay her husband's debts. But instead of appreciating his wife and changing his ways for good, her husband Sundar would come home drunk and would beat her mercilessly using any pretext he could find. He would unleash his fury by pummeling her until he tired. Still for some reason, she continued to suffer the brutal neglect and beatings silently. But then something broke loose inside her when one night Sundar came home in a drunken stupor with a man whom he had met at the bar and asked her to accompany the man because he had sold her to him to repay his debt. But Meera fought like a tigress against his advances and somehow managed to run away from their house in the middle of the night. She had got nothing but the clothes on her back.
She spent the night huddled in a doorway near the market and waited for the morning to dawn in. As soon as it was morning and the market opened, she went around looking for some work so that she could pay for her bus-ride to another city. She did find a small job and with the money that she earned, she took the bus and left the city for a new place. She had to start from scratch but being very sincere, she was never short of jobs. Whatever sort of work came her way, she always grabbed it and worked hard at it. It was not long before she got a permanent job as a cook in a restaurant. Slowly her life began to turn for the better, of course she worked hard for it. No one would have laboured more untiringly than she did. She started saving money from her earnings little by little and she had now finally managed to rent a small hut to stay.
It was early morning now, her body-clock had got used to getting up at around that time every day. Another day had started but it felt so different. She could hear the birds chirping outside, as if they were welcoming the morning. Her eyes were closed but she could hear the sound of the dripping faucet. She got up from her bed and looked outside from her small window. It was a beautiful sunrise, she felt as if the rays that fell on her were urging her not to think about her painful past, not to feel scared anymore, instead to continue with her new life. Indeed she felt reborn, far away from her abusive husband and her uncle and aunty, she was happy that she had escaped from a bad dream that had lasted for so many years. Suddenly a sense of freedom had risen up in her. She felt proud of herself for having mustered courage to rebel against her fate. With a roof above her head and a permanent job, now she was confident and self-sufficient. "From now on, I will make my own destiny," she told herself as she looked out of the window aimlessly, "No one is going to make me suffer again".
(Photo sourced from www.goodreads.com )
P.S. - This is about the power of self-belief and about start anew, it's never too late to start over again, and this is courtesy https://housing.com/.
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