Sanias of our nation are making heads turn through their sports skills and glamour. Today I went to meet a Sania who has nothing to do with glamour or fame. I went to meet her as a subject of field study for my Human Rights report writing assignment.
I had heard her story from from an NGO official and wanted to meet her in her circumstances so that I can make an idea of what has she gone through and what kind of a life she is living now.
Village Biritaila is quite a far away place from the nearest developed village Similia of Dhenkanal district. We had to travel through a dusty and bumpy terrain without any sign of habitation. The path zigzagged through uneven hilly areas which had no farmlands. The whole region was lightly covered with grass, bushes, shrubs and trees and was largely empty of habitation or people. We met stray people riding bicycles or a shepherd with its herd.
I couldn't really understand why a village grew so far away from locality or the closest available communicable road. When we reached there, the social worker with us called out Sania's name loudly and she immediately showed up at the door of her hut with her sick two and half year old son in lap. While complaining about her son's fever, she spread out a plastic mat on the verandah for us to sit. Her dry skin, drawn tightly on her face belied her 26 years. Clearly, she was a victim of poverty and insecurity, but there was an expression of helpless acceptance on her face.
I came to know from her that she had been married to a small businessman at the age of fourteen. The man had lied to her family before marriage that he was single.
After one year, when Sania had already given birth to his child, she came to know that the man was married and had children too. Such was her anger and rage that she left the man and came back to her mother even though their religion allowed polygamy. After sometime, she was again married to a distant relative from her mother's side and had twin daughters with him. In a bad twist to her fate, the second husband started demanding for dowry. Sania's parents offered him whatever they could but it was insufficient for him. Besides, he was very displeased that Sania had given birth to two daughters and no son. One day, he left Sania insecure and penniless and went away,never to return.
Fighting for survival and struggling to eke out a living, Sania fell into the trap of a trafficker. He was also a distance relative. He promised to take her to Punjab and find her a job there and also a better match. But after reaching there, she came to know that the relative was planning to sell her to a Punjabi man. She raised a cry and a Punjabi gentleman came to her rescue. She returned to Dhenkanal with the help of Punjab police. Here, she got shelter in a centre for rescue and rehabilitation of destitute women and lived there for three years with her three children and got vocational training too. After three years, she was returned to her parental home. Now, she lives there with her four children.It's a pretty bleak life for her without any hope of any improvement.
It's just before the dawn of a new year. Well-to-do people will welcome it in pubs and clubs along with dance, music and drinks. The middle class will do so with delicacies cooked for the occasions. But Sania's day will dawn with the the same worry of feeding four mouths and raising four children single-handed. Her eldest son, only eight years old, would be breaking rocks for daily wages instead of going to school and her two and half years old twin daughters would be roaming around here and there with their tonsured heads and torn clothes. Can't we do anything for all the Sanias and there children who really need our help and support to have a dignified existence?
The eyes and hearts not only sees but speaks the truth that creates a vicious circle in the poverty stricken women deprived of their rights and entitlements in our (not to say) civilised society. Carry on looking at the issues deeply and see still we have to learn a lot from their lives.
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