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All my married life, I did everything I was taught. I accepted the new life and everything it came with, until that one night...
All my married life, I did everything I was taught. I accepted the new life and everything it came with, until that one night…
When my marriage with you was fixed,
My family started teaching me so many things,
that I need to take care of you and your family
and that I need to think of others before mine.
So, promising my mother to be a good daughter-in-law and wife,
I headed forward and gladly accepted a new life full of daily strife.
And I struggled day and night
cooking, rinsing plates and washing clothes dedicatedly to make them look bright.
I didn’t complain despite being completely exhausted
as I had with me my self-respect
which motivated me to carry on though I was not perfect.
My Amma had told me not to fight
but had never taught me to undergo torture and the suffering being inflicted upon me in the darkest hours of the night.
That day you crossed all your limits
by showing me your patriarchal might.
It was not just a slap
but the murder of my identity and self-respect.
Picture credits: Still from Bollywood movie Thappad
I am a student of Masters in English Studies. Being passionate about writing, I write quotes, microtales, poems, short stories, articles and create contents on various topics. read more...
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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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