BENGALURU: Some find hope in the darkest of places while some find it in the kindness of strangers. Here is the story of a 25-year-old runaway who found hope and home in the narrow lanes of Vasanth Nagar.
“I don’t think anyone from my family knows if I am dead or alive,” says Anika (name changed).
She escaped the torture of her husband in Bengal, from where she ran off with just `50.
How did she come to the city? Who is she? What happened to her? All these questions haunted me the day I met her. Here is her story. She was born in a village in Assam to a family of farmers. They did not have much land and she never went to school. At 14, she moved to West Bengal to meet her relatives and fell in love with a 21-year-old “handsome man who could talk well with everyone.”
The two were from different communities and religions, so she kept her marriage a secret from her family. When her family came to know about it, they disowned her. “In 2003, a year later after my marriage, my son was born, but my family still did not accept us,” she says. Her continuous fights with her husband ever since he started having an eye for another woman prompted her to leave the house and she returned to her family in Assam after 11 years.
After continuous persuasion, her family decided to forgive her.
Her husband, after promising that he would stop seeing the “second-woman”, came to get her and take her home. The promise was short-lived and Anika could not take it anymore. She then decided to earn her own living and ventured to Tirupur in Tamil Nadu to work in a wool factory. She decided to take a break and visit Assam, but on the way was noticed by her husband’s nephew.
“He saw me and informed my husband. My husband already was angry at me because my brothers had bashed him. My husband came and forced me out of the bus and took me with him to West Bengal Nagar Thatta,” she narrates.
“He had held me hostage for two months. I was guarded by his family. I was not allowed to step out of the door. Every night he would come home drunk and beat me up,” she says putting up a bold face even as her voice turns shaky.
“All the documents I had, my photocopied voter identity card, sim card, mobile was all set on fire. I lost all my contacts and I don’t remember anyone’s number. The only person to call my own at that time was my son,” she adds. After two months, her son was given `50 by her husband to purchase salt. She took the money and decided to escape. She told her son that she would leave the place since his father would never mend his ways. “And then he told me, please go mother, make yourself happy. Don’t worry about me. I will study well, but don’t forget to call.”
She went to Siliguri, a nearby city, where she met a girl who told her that she and her aunt operate a hostel in Bengaluru and if she could work as a helper there.
Anika readily agreed. For her it was a means to be independent. She reached Bengaluru on April 5, 2016. She met the house lady, Deepa (name changed) and Anika instantly felt “like home” after meeting her. On her first day of work, she felt a kick in her stomach. “It was very weird and funny. I thought I couldn’t be pregnant because I did not think about it. I had no morning sickness, no pregnancy-like -symptom,” she said.
“I was in a dilemma, if I should tell the house lady. I had just met her so I wondered what will she think of me, so I kept mum for a while. But then my stomach got bigger and it was too late for abortion,” she adds.
Deepa took her to the doctor who asked `50,000 for abortion. She was ready to pay, but it did not feel right about it. “I cannot take care of the child. If I was with my husband I would give him the responsibility,” Anika told Deepa. “Will you adopt my child?” she asked Deepa.
Deepa is in her late forties and is a divorcee. She has two grown up children and her son does not necessarily make her a happy mother. Deepa was overjoyed on hearing this. She decided to take full responsibility of the child-to-be born. She delivered Taania a baby on August 23 at Bowring Hospital.
During the day she is with Deepa, who feeds her bottled, milk while Anika works and at night Taania is with Anika. “She is the luckiest child I know. I don’t feel bad that I’ve given my child to Deepa. She is the kindest soul and I know. Taania will blossom under her guidance,” Anika says.