Thursday 6 July 2023

#ShortStory Gender Equality for Wives in India is still a far fetched dream



‘It has been seventeen years of our marriage Veer and a total of twenty-four years of us together, can I not this one time decide for myself,’ Priyam cried out in pain.

She had been happily married to Veer for seventeen years. They are made for each other every which way and their love marriage has been so beautiful barring just one point which would not have been this big had Veer would have allowed her some discretion when it came to his family.

Veer loves Priyam and so does she and they have made a lot of adjustments in the past decades to keep their lovely bond alive. In fact, with their daughter arriving in the world, Priyam gave up her flourishing practice while Veer continued soaring higher and higher though both were in the same batch and were equally brilliant, life took different courses for them. 

With the kind of brain Priyam has it was a difficult adjustment for her but she had no choice. She however always discovered ways to keep herself happy by freelancing and giving to society. Money was never her need, validation was.

Veer on the contrary had big dreams which was all fine because his wife was the custodian of his dreams and it was his blind love for his family in front of whom his wife and daughter did not matter to him at all which he had proven time and again in the last two decades that was claustrophobic. The otherwise doting husband and dad would avoid his better half and kid and even use dry rude language when they were around. 

Perhaps his family did not like them so he had this urge to prove to them that he is still their son and not become a ‘joru ka gulam’ or something else, one can’t say. This transition was most difficult to fathom for Priyam and the kid and they dreaded the period the family would be around which was so many times.

With his family around Veer was extremely weird he would not trust Priyam for anything and acted with an unknown hatred towards her even if she was unwell. On the contrary, he would do anything for her when she is sick otherwise and cushion her pain with her love and she would heal in no time. The double personality of the love of her life really broke Priyam’s heart. Somewhere I believe this killed her desire to love her in-laws unconditionally no matter how old-fashioned they were and she developed a complete detachment.

She dreaded the times they would be taken to the parental home where they will mostly remain home getting sick while Veer took everyone out one by one. Being the youngest child in the family he was almost treated like a help for everyone but he never understood it as he was sweet-talked into his duties which Priyam respected but somewhere got left out. Confined in the parental home where she had no free will, every festival felt like a punishment to the mom-and-daughter duo. Another reason for Priyam’s detachment was her mother-in-law’s unjust comparison and cursing of her only child. 

Thus now Priyam has thoughtfully decided that while Veer must surely go ahead and spend quality time with his family age and her kid who is now a teenager doing senior school will stay back and focus on his studies without any ill-will for anyone. She loved Veer deeply and communicated her decision to him very softly but to her surprise, this just didn’t go down his throat well and he hurled all kinds of painful accusations at her which both of them knew were not true.

Veer stopped talking to the two and still exhibits disgust towards his wife and daughter though they did go to the in-laws' home albeit for a shorter duration. 

Priyam thinks she is right this time and refuses to budge and has embraced silence. It has taken her the courage of a lifetime to decide for herself. She stronger believes that human ties are stronger than blood ties based on her personal experiences.

My question is why are Indian wives forced to obey their husbands in India forever? Why can’t they decide for themselves, what is right and what is wrong? 

In my opinion, we must lovingly carry forward the relationship our heart genuinely accepts, one cant force relations on anyone whether it be a wife or a husband. It is high time we aim for this amendment in our society. I will really like to read your opinion about the same.


Truly Yours Roma

No comments:

Post a Comment