Oh Marriage ! I don’t believe you

                              Oh Marriage ! I don’t believe you

Part 1 – Surekha’s parents

Surekha was a child brought up in a disturbed family. Since childhood she had witnessed her parents fighting like cats and dogs.

“Get out of my house you woman!” , I don’t need you. Shouted her father on her mother.

“This is my house too and I wont leave” cried her mother sobbing out aloud.

“Papa , Mumma please don’t fight” – Surekha with her siblings always cried for mercy from her parents to stop fighting.

Often the poor children had to take shelter in neighbour’s house as there were heated arguments all over there house.

“I will take my children with me “ her father used to tell her mother .

“This man is no good my kids”, “do not believe in him “ “ I don’t know why did I ever get married to him “ was the constant lamenting of their mother.

The kids often wondered as to why cant there parents ever get along. “Don’t they love each other ?” was the question that often disturbed Surekha.

To be born in a family is a matter of great luck but to be born in a abusive family is a curse. Psychologically , Surekha was shattered. She was always terrified as to when would her father come drunk from the office and pick up a fight. Sometimes conditions grew so worse that the poor kids had to take refuge in a neighbour’s place.

“Other women” were the main cause of fights as per Surekha’s mother.

Her mother often complained that “He is not faithful to me”.

Surekha was too young to understand the complications of relationships . As a child she needed both her parents but could not understand the issues between her parents.

“Papa , mummy “ – We love you and need you both. “Please sort out things between yourself and let us live happily as a family “ was her prayer always.

Amongst the other reasons was her mother’s sister “Uma” staying with them. Their father was too fond of “Uma” and dint want to let her go. As “Uma” was unmarried and stayed with them , she was the main source of conflict most of the times.

The years and years of torture and abuse finally ended up in Surekha losing her father one fine day due to heart attack as he could not bear the burden of a horrible marriage .

“What will happen to us without dad?” How will we survive ? Whenever, the kids asked their mother, she hid her pain behind her tears and kept silent.

Surekha’s young impressionable mind held the marriage of her parents responsible for her father’s demise. Had her parents got divorced , then things would have been in a much better shape and her father would have been alive and the kids would have had the love of their parents at least separately if not together.

Part 2 : Eldest sister married to wrong man

Time passed by and her siblings also got married . The eldest sister “Shweta “ got married to a person employed in government sector. It seemed to be quite a decent match as he was from the same community , educated and had a decent job. The boy however had something fishy about him as he did not disclose much about his family. He also never introduced Surekha’s sister to his family. As Surekha’s eldest sister was of quite a marriageable age , her family was keen on marrying her . Also, the relatives of Shweta’s mother assured her that they would find out about full details but they backed out later.

As a result, out of haste they had to get the eldest daughter married off to a person who turned fraud later. It came to light when he got some paid actors disguised as his parents and siblings for the ceremony. Surekha’s mother spent a fortune on buying gifts for the so called relatives.

A few days after her marriage, the so called husband started taking charge of her life and dominating her . As she was a govt employee too , he thought that she must be having good money , but he was very disappointed on seeing her love and care for her blood family.

“Manjay! Stop harassing me “ Shweta shouted one day . “ I cant take it anymore “ said she.

“Oh you idiots ! You got me trapped in marriage I never wanted to be in “ Manjay answered back in fury.

“We trapped you, or you fooled us all “, “ We are not even aware of your family” cried Shweta’s mom .

Manjay every now and then created scenes in their neighbourhood. He accused Shweta’s family. He knew that there was no strong support system without the father and the mother was too helpless .

However, Shweta was a strong person and not a weakling. She decided to part ways with Manjay and took legal action against him. Years and years of court trials drained off all the resources of the family. The whole family got devastated.

Poor Shweta also developed the dangerous disease called “Cancer” and had to face the court cases and disease all by herself.

Part 3 : Brother being cheated

The brother also was cheated by girls who kept on extracting money from him and fooling him emotionally. They made big promises of love with him and after extracting money got off married to other people.

Part 4 : Repeated betrayals

Surekha herself went through hell of relationships which could never materialise into commitment as all her partners were womanisers, controllers and cheaters. The arranged marriages were just not her cup of tea as it demanded lot of lust of money and hypocrisy. She was being let down by the people innumerable times and even those who wanted to marry only wanted a maid for their house and caretaker of their kids. They did not cherish or value “Surekha” for the person she was.

The murder

Last straw on the back was the sad demise of the talented doctor sister of Surekha “ Dr Muskaan “ . As she was not able to conceive after marriage due to fault of her husband he forced her for hormonal treatment. Due to constant pressure of her in-laws who never accepted her as she was from a different culture , she was under constant stress.

“I cant stay with your folks “ , “ Your brother is useless “ her husband nagged her always.

“ I cant have bread , I want to have rice and vegetables “ “ Cook this for me “ “ Don’t wear this “ “ Don’t stay like this “ he always dictated her.

Even when she used to attend calls from her folks he often used to listen and reply back even when not being asked.

Unfortunately, Dr Muskaan also developed cancer due to side effects of the treatment. She was a braveheart though and fought the disease with all her might. However, with time her husband could make out that her chances of survival were less. He started neglecting her and used to leave her all alone in the big house admist the deep and dense forest in pain and agony. He started enjoying with other women and forced her to cook for him even when she was bedridden.

Dr Muskaan was very sick and had to undergo 30 cruel surgeries on her due to some complication of other. Her husband hid the real situation from her blood family. He had got greedy for Dr Muskaan’s share of property and wanted to share it with his relatives.

Even on the last unfortunate day of Dr Muskaan’s demise he could be seen laughing and having fun with his relatives. Since, Dr Muskaan never wanted her last rites to be held at her husband’s place , he forcibly performed all the rituals by threatening the blood family.

Later, when her blood family tried to file a case for the atrocities conducted by the husband for neglecting his wife and not giving her proper treatment and behaving in such a evil manner , it was almost a murder that he had committed – not only of body but of years of faith and love. However, justice was denied as it was presumed that the husband is the whole sole owner and caretaker of the wife and that the blood family has no rights on the girl after her marriage.

All this made “Surekha “ very bitter for the so called institution of “Marriage “ as she lost all her loved ones due to it apart from all the pain and hurt she and her family had to face. “Marriage “ was no longer a bond made in heaven, but a curse made on earth in her eyes. She has lost all trust on the institution and has her take on it . “Oh Marriage “ “ I don’t believe you” .