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No one wants to talk about the violence present inside our homes! Join this blogathon, A Letter To Her, and let's begin talking about the elephant in the room.
No one wants to talk about the violence present inside our homes – it’s private, isn’t it? Thankfully, things are changing – join this blogathon, A Letter To Her, and let’s begin talking about the elephant in the room.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
So goes a popular question that tries to answer whether something ‘really exists’ or not.
That’s what the situation is like when it comes to Domestic Violence. Everyone knows that it happens to somebody, somewhere…but we stay out of it. After all, it’s a ‘private matter’, and so, if we don’t know about it, it’s not ‘really’ happening!
That’s why, radical author Meena Kandasamy’s latest novel, When I Hit You comes as much needed shock treatment. An account of an abusive marriage, it forces us to examine our notions of what domestic abuse really is. Is it the common notion of being slapped and kicked alone, or can it include the taking over of your email passwords as well? Can abuse be psychological, the wearing down of one’s energy and passion, the taking over of your identity?
Join us with leading publishers Juggernaut on a blogathon where we seek to follow Meena and shout out loud – that domestic violence is no longer that dirty little secret we will hush up.
What if a loved one – a friend, a sister, a neighbour, a colleague, your mother, perhaps you yourself – were going through domestic violence? Could you imagine this happening? Or have you known such a situation?
What would you say to give her the strength and support she needs? What do you wish you could say?
Write A Letter To Her.
Whether it is to offer her practical support, mental courage or just to let her know that she is not alone – imagine what you would say, or share a letter that is based on what you actually did.
These 8 posts have been especially recognised by Juggernaut Books and Women’s Web in the #ALetterToHer blogathon for their role in spreading awareness about domestic violence.
Tanvi Sinha for her post, A Letter To My Daughter, where she reiterates, “The shame belongs to the person who deserves it – the perpetrator.”
Seema Taneja for her post, A letter To Her, where she writes from the perspective of a man who has seen his mother survive domestic violence, and knows that the scars of such violence run deep.
Balaka (Trina) for her post, Dear Aisha, in which she writes as the ‘other woman’ who finds solidarity with the wife of her lover, saying, “Aisha, I always thought he loved me. I thought he was extremely unhappy with you and one day he would divorce you and marry me. How foolish I was. He never loved any girl. Women were just something to fulfil his physical desires.”
Deepali Adhikary, for her post, Unseen Bruises & Unheard Screams, where she discusses a deceptively ‘perfect’ marriage where the violence is not physical, but nonetheless exists.
Kasturi Patra, for her post, I Am With You, which shares a story of an abusive brother, who will go on to become an abusive husband. As she says, “I was not matured enough to understand that I was just a punching bag and once I was gone, he’d channelize his anger on someone else.”
Juveria Tabassum, for her post, Spills To Remember You By, an evocative poem on the subject of domestic violence.
Meenal Sonal, for the post, Stand Against Dear Ones, which is again a poem encouraging women to stand firm.
Ell P, for her post, Daddy’s Little Girl, a post that socks you with its visceral narration of a woman who has gone from facing violence at the hands of her father to that of a partner.
Make sure you have your post up by 30th June 10 PM IST!
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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