Page 32 - Chupi-Todo
P. 32
M y friend was 16 when she was sexually abused by her own father. She used to
study in a boarding school back then and had come home for her summer vacation.
That night, her father came home around 11 at night. He drank almost every night
back then. She was sleeping in the living room then because the air conditioning in
her bedroom wasn’t working.
That night, my friend’s mother had her period and in their culture, a woman did
not sleep on the bed with her husband while on her period. So, she told my friend
to go sleep with her father in the bedroom and she would sleep on the living room
sofa instead. My friend did as her mother said and slept in the bedroom with her
father. She and her father were not very close and that day, her father started asking
her questions about her friends and school and she felt very nice that her father had
started taking interest in her life.
But then he started to touch her and since she was 16, she knew this wasn’t right.
But at that moment, she was too stunned to know what to do. Her father smelled of
alcohol so she told him that she couldn’t sleep because he was smelling and so she
thought she should go out and sleep with her mom. That helped because then he
moved away and slept at one end of the bed and she on another.
Thankfully, his touching her at the wrong places lasted for just a minute but even
then the psychological damage was done. She could not sleep all night and she
never told her mother about it because she thought it would break their marriage.
She immediately told her boyfriend though and that helped her emotionally.
It happened only that one night but it sort of damaged her for quite long. She would
get lashbacks of that night whenever she got that smell again or suddenly when she
would make out with her boyfriend. It took her a long time to cope with it because
she never told her family and it seems till date her father doesn’t even remember
what happened that night. Her father and she get along very well now. It’s like she’s
forgiven him and blamed it on the alcohol.
-Riya
CHUPPI TODO! | 30
study in a boarding school back then and had come home for her summer vacation.
That night, her father came home around 11 at night. He drank almost every night
back then. She was sleeping in the living room then because the air conditioning in
her bedroom wasn’t working.
That night, my friend’s mother had her period and in their culture, a woman did
not sleep on the bed with her husband while on her period. So, she told my friend
to go sleep with her father in the bedroom and she would sleep on the living room
sofa instead. My friend did as her mother said and slept in the bedroom with her
father. She and her father were not very close and that day, her father started asking
her questions about her friends and school and she felt very nice that her father had
started taking interest in her life.
But then he started to touch her and since she was 16, she knew this wasn’t right.
But at that moment, she was too stunned to know what to do. Her father smelled of
alcohol so she told him that she couldn’t sleep because he was smelling and so she
thought she should go out and sleep with her mom. That helped because then he
moved away and slept at one end of the bed and she on another.
Thankfully, his touching her at the wrong places lasted for just a minute but even
then the psychological damage was done. She could not sleep all night and she
never told her mother about it because she thought it would break their marriage.
She immediately told her boyfriend though and that helped her emotionally.
It happened only that one night but it sort of damaged her for quite long. She would
get lashbacks of that night whenever she got that smell again or suddenly when she
would make out with her boyfriend. It took her a long time to cope with it because
she never told her family and it seems till date her father doesn’t even remember
what happened that night. Her father and she get along very well now. It’s like she’s
forgiven him and blamed it on the alcohol.
-Riya
CHUPPI TODO! | 30
