Page 55 - Chupi-Todo
P. 55
You would think that after 50-something years, my distress would have gone away.
But physical scars heal and psychological trauma, especially to a child’s brain,
comes with lifelong vulnerability. If I read or watch stories about perpetrators, I ind
myself back in my elite English preparatory boarding school, a young child unable
to escape from the assaults of a house master who slept next to our dormitories.
It was a privilege to go to my expensive school, and it was a inancial sacriice by
my parents, which only made it more dificult to tell anyone. I didn’t tell anyone for
40 years, not until both my parents had passed away.
-Andy
I am sharing a friend’s life story. Her mother used to leave her alone at home many
times and go for religious functions. At one such time, one of their relatives, a
25-year-old army person, raped my friend. She was 14 at the time. She didn’t tell
her parents about this because she thought they wouldn’t believe her. This abuse
went on for 5 years!
The neighbours found out that a man was regularly visiting my friend’s house and
they started talking about them publicly. The rapist’s parents made him marry her
under pressure when she was 18. He beat my friend regularly and was an alcoholic.
Some of their neighbours had complained about them creating public nuisance due
to the man’s daily shouting and attacking my friend after drinking. When military
oficials came to inquire, my friend was silent due to fear. After years of tolerating
physical abuse, she has left her husband but is not living a peaceful, happy life.
- Ramesh
CHUPPI TODO! | 53
But physical scars heal and psychological trauma, especially to a child’s brain,
comes with lifelong vulnerability. If I read or watch stories about perpetrators, I ind
myself back in my elite English preparatory boarding school, a young child unable
to escape from the assaults of a house master who slept next to our dormitories.
It was a privilege to go to my expensive school, and it was a inancial sacriice by
my parents, which only made it more dificult to tell anyone. I didn’t tell anyone for
40 years, not until both my parents had passed away.
-Andy
I am sharing a friend’s life story. Her mother used to leave her alone at home many
times and go for religious functions. At one such time, one of their relatives, a
25-year-old army person, raped my friend. She was 14 at the time. She didn’t tell
her parents about this because she thought they wouldn’t believe her. This abuse
went on for 5 years!
The neighbours found out that a man was regularly visiting my friend’s house and
they started talking about them publicly. The rapist’s parents made him marry her
under pressure when she was 18. He beat my friend regularly and was an alcoholic.
Some of their neighbours had complained about them creating public nuisance due
to the man’s daily shouting and attacking my friend after drinking. When military
oficials came to inquire, my friend was silent due to fear. After years of tolerating
physical abuse, she has left her husband but is not living a peaceful, happy life.
- Ramesh
CHUPPI TODO! | 53
