“I was 50 when I finally decided to move out of his house and away from abuse. For 28 years I had supported my daughters alone. My husband was alcoholic and abusive. It pained to see my daughters holed up in such an abusive environment.
I was born in the early 50s in an affluent family and enjoyed all rights and privileges. At the age of 22, I was married into a family of equals. My husband checked all the possible boxes of a suitable life partner. Like any other girl in her early-twenties, I walked into the marriage with dreams and hopes. Little did I know that it was the start of a long tenure of over 28 years of acute mental, emotional and physical abuse at the hands of an alcoholic narcissist who could neither hold a job for long, nor care for his daughters.
Within two years of the marriage and abuse, I gave birth to twins, who became my beacon of light. I gave motherhood all my heart and labour. Over a decade later, I had a third child as well! But my husband never had a job. There were days when we had little food and even little money to survive. I took tuitions for years to support my kids and their education. The abuse continued and I took it as a way of life, until my daughters grew up and made me strong enough to take the decision of leaving my husband’s house. The four of us moved to Mumbai.
It was only when the life of abuse came to end, that we realized how scarred we had become. A different kind of struggle began. A woman with three young daughters in a city like Mumbai with limited income had its own share of tribulations. Having a house, even on rent was the biggest challenge. We shifted 11 houses in 12 years. My eldest daughter gradually started progressing in her job and took up most of the responsibilities – right from running the house to sponsoring my youngest daughter’s education to saving for their marriage. They said they had imbibed the positivity and sheer determination to make it happen from me. Since we couldn’t afford fancy colleges, my daughters finished their degrees through distance learning, but with their own earnings.
Till date, I am skeptical to face the world about my marriage and earlier life. I am sure my daughters have faced uncomfortable barbs from the society – but never once did they let them reach me. My daughters are my strength and my pride. As for me, I am proud of myself for managing them, and now their children.

If 10 years back someone told me that I would be celebrating my 68th birthday at the famous Great Wall of China, I wouldn’t have believed it. But when you have daughters like mine, anything is possible.”

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