My mother-in-law never tolerated me taking even a minute’s rest. ‘This is not the first time that a woman has become pregnant. When I was young, I worked twice as hard. I never complained’, she said, even before I expressed that I was too tired, especially because I was carrying. I quarrelled with my husband asking if he cared at all. He scolded me and said, ‘How can you not work?’ Don’t you know that one day of rest is a loss of Rs. 200-300 as wages?’I worked and worked till the time I was full term. On seeing me becoming weak, I was sent home to my mother’s. I delivered a baby boy, but was too weak to return to my in-laws house immediately. Now, I have returned and work on cotton seed and chilli farms. I migrate for seasonal work carrying my son everywhere. My husband takes no interest in me or my son. He grabs all the wages I earn. He goes out with his friends and only infrequently takes me to my mother’s place which is 50 km away.
Narrative provided by M Venkatarangaiya Foundation in their report ‘…and they never lived happily ever after. The battle for justice goes on: Voices of married girls in Telangana’
