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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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If her MIL had accepted her with some affection, wouldn't they have built a mutually happier relationship by now?
The incident took place ten years ago.
Smita could visit her mother only in summers when her daughter had school holidays. Her daughter also enjoyed meeting her Nani, and both of them had done their reservations for a week. A month before their visit, her husband told her, “My mom is coming for 4-5 months!”
Smita shuddered. She knew the repercussions. She would have to hear sarcastic comments from her mother-in-law for visiting her mother. She may make these comments directly only a bit, but her servants would be flooded with the words, “How horrible she is! She leaves me and goes!”
Maybe Animal is going to make Ranbir the superstar he yearns to be, but is this the kind of legacy his grandfather and granduncles would wish for?
I have no intention of watching Animal. I have heard it’s acting like a small baby screaming and yelling for attention. However, I read some interesting reviews which gave away the original, brilliant and awe-inspiring plot (was that sarcastic enough?), and I don’t really need to go watch it to have an informed opinion.
A little boy craves for his father’s love but doesn’t get it so uses it as an excuse to kill a whole bunch of people when he grows up. Poor paapa (baby) what else could he do?
I was wondering; if any woman director gets inspired by this movie and replicates this with a female protagonist, what would happen?. Oh wait, that’s the story of so many women in this world. Forget about not giving them love, you have fathers who try to kill their daughters or sell them off or do other equally despicable things.
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