Badass dealing with domestic violence

They say that there are as many ideas as there are people. So when thrown into a challenging situation, everyone would have their own ideas about how to cope with it or overcome it. Take for instance, the case of domestic violence. 

There are some women, who suffer it in silence through their lives, sometimes even maintaining an outside façade of a perfect life. Others curse their fate, cry about it and tell everyone who would lend an ear. There are yet others who decide to walk out of bad situations, no matter what the peril, and don’t look back. But there are others, who awaken their dormant badass in such a situation, ending up dealing with it with such finesse and composure, that they become stories that must be told.

And one such story is that of a domestic worker, who migrated to Mumbai from her village with her husband. Everything was good in her life, until it wasn’t. But did that break her? Far from it! Read this story to know more:

"My husband and I both came here from our village to find work and make a life together. He got a job as a watchman and I got a job as domestic help...the initial few years went by smoothly. As time went by, he would have to work extra shifts and in order to stay awake at night he would drink heavily, have a hangover, drink some more and come home to remove all his frustration on me. When he started getting violent, I decided that I didn't want to be one of those women who tolerate abuse.

I told him that this job was taking a toll on his health and he should return to our village for a few months while I took care of our finances. By this time, I was working at many houses so I was earning enough to support my entire family, but he said it would look 'bad' that a woman was working in the city and her husband is in the village. I didn't give up -- I stopped giving him money to buy alcohol and even though he was violent towards us all earlier on, he realized that the only option was to leave. 

Now he's in his village, I send him money every month and my daughter is here staying with me. She's just like me...she's 22 and during the day she comes with me to work, but after that she attends night school and keeps reading. A lot of people ask me when I plan on getting her married but I'm not worried about that -- I'd much rather make her independent before anything else."

The story first appeared on Humans of Bombay.