SLICE OF LIFE

“Radha teacher!”  

She  heard somebody call out her name in the crowded marriage hall. She turned around to see a vaguely familiar face smiling down at her. A pretty woman in her thirties stood before her.

“Do you remember me?”

The old teacher tried to recollect when suddenly she said “Oh my God! Its Ambili, isn’t it? My girl, how are you? It’s been such a long time since….” her voice dropped and she looked sadly at Ambili.

“It’s alright teacher, I have come to terms with all that happened years ago. Today I am happy. Here is my family, my husband, Pramod and my two daughters.”

The teacher looked at Pramod and almost instinctively placed her palms on his head as if to bless. Ambili’s eyes welled up in tears and she hugged her. 

Radha teacher, as she was fondly called by her colleagues, students and even the local

people in her village, was surprised to see her student after such a long time. As she sat there watching the marriage proceedings, her mind raced back to a time, 25 years back when she was a teacher in the village school.

Ambili was a student there who excelled in her studies. But as she reached her tenth class, her marks began to show a marked change and she began to frequently absent herself from school. Moreover, the girl became very morose and silent.

Radha was her class teacher and she called Ambili, one day, to find out what was wrong.

Looking at the girl sitting across her, fidgeting nervously with the ends of her shirt, she saw a pretty 15 year old with the saddest eyes ever! There was so much of melancholy on her face that Radha teacher could sense some hidden turbulence in her student’s mind.

The teacher spoke softly to her, “What’s your problem? You can tell me.

You are such a bright girl and we want you to do well in the exams. What’s ailing you,

dear? We’ll find a solution for it."

Tears began to roll down her face and in between sobs she said, “ Teacher, my mother, as you know,

 is bedridden with cancer and I have to attend to her most of the time. Besides, I have to do all the household chores. My father goes off to work and we live by his income alone. And now my brother has come back from the army blind in both eyes. So I have to take care of his needs too. Sometimes I am unable to attend school, and…..and…….” so saying she began to cry .

Ambili then looked up at her teacher intensely as if wanting to tell more.

“What is it, dear? Is there anything else?  We’ll work it out, child. Don’t worry.” Saying this Radha walked to her ward and patted her shoulders. All of a sudden the girl got up and ran out of the room crying.

That was the last Radha saw of her because Ambili stopped coming to school altogether.

Being a small village any news, big or small, spreads fast. One such was the death of Ambili’s mother. But Radha was shocked and vexed to hear another bit of news from her student’s neighbours when she went to Ambili’s house to offer condolences.

“That girl is clearly pregnant,” whispered one of them. “She has bouts of vomiting in the morning,” she offered additional gossip.

But, in a few days time the news spread like wildfire and the villagers took upon themselves to delve into the matter. The question in everybody’s mind was clearly about who was responsible, whether the girl was at fault or if any mishap had fallen her.

The villagers questioned the father and brother but both were helpless about the matter.

A few women forced the girl to reveal the name. Though initially she refused, she relented later and said that she would reveal the truth to Radha teacher alone.

That evening, the teacher and a few prominent villagers reached Ambili’s house. Radha

was uncomfortable in this new role but she knew she had to face it. But she was not ready for what she heard from Ambili . It unnerved her and almost made her puke. She even doubted the girl at first. But listening to all that the poor girl had to say she was convinced of the truth. The naked truth that the girl’s father himself was responsible for his daughter’s pregnancy!!

What later ensued was mayhem which the teacher didn’t want to recollect. But she later heard that the tormentor was beaten up and hospitalized. Ambili left the village with her brother. But as is evident today, she got a good life. Pramod was good and large hearted enough to come forward and support her.

This is a slice of life of the girl, Ambili. This happened in the late '60s in a small village in God's own country.

The story ends here. But the crux of the matter, child abuse and incestuous relationships, is still rampant. It is not always that the tormented meet with happy endings. The physical and mental turmoil that the abused goes through and the many fears that she has to later tackle in life can cripple her mentally. Such incidents can make or break an individual. To come out of such sexual and physical abuse is a big step and then to live, leaving behind the scars is another effort. When the subjects are children and adolescents, the matter is graver because the perpetrators are most of the time a close friend or relative who has an emotional upper hand over the abused. The most underlying thing called trust in such relation is torn apart and shattered. 

This is a subject that requires a lot of discussion. May be another blog?