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The news of two honour killings in Telangana scares young lover Kavitha. Will these brutal acts by parents stop young people in their quest for freedom?
Kavitha checked her bank balance once again before she slid her phone back into her backpack. It was a solid six-figure balance that she had saved in three years, which would take her through two years without having to go to work, but she wanted to save some more. Buying a piece of land for herself on the outskirts of the city, before the end of this year, was her goal.
That was just a distraction, checking her phone. She was not in her rented apartment but at her parents’ house for the weekend. It was the food that always got her home every weekend and not the people in it. From her room, she could overhear her parents convincing her uncle and aunt to not allow her cousin Rekha into their house again.
Rekha had eloped with a guy she loved, a guy who belonged to a different caste; ‘lower’ in hierarchy compared to hers. Kavitha was in touch with her but it wasn’t as frequent as she used to be before the eloping. Now that her cousin was pregnant, her uncle and aunt were considering accepting their daughter and their son-in-law into their family. But Kavitha’s father, who was the eldest person in the family, and an influential man in their society, was strongly against it.
“Are we running a hostel here for her to leave as she wishes and come back pregnant with the garbage growing within her?” Kavitha’s father yelled angrily.
Kavitha just hugged her backpack and sat against the bedroom door, her heart thumping painfully inside her chest in fear. Her feverish body was sweating heavily as she tried to understand her father. Though she could hear him clearly, her brain was loaded with thoughts that formed a chaotic blur. She was also in love with a guy from a different caste.
Three years and she never thought about his caste, his financial status or his family because she was ready to leave her parents’ house for him. She was not happy with her parents and she definitely would be happy if she was with him, so leaving her parents to marry him never seemed to be a problem for her. Her bank balance was a testimony to her commitment to leaving her home to start a family with the love of her life.
She was prepared emotionally and financially. Just a year or two and then she would ask her parents if they were ready to marry her to her lover. If they said no, (which would not be a surprise), she would leave home. No need to depend upon her family anymore. But why this sudden fear?
The news channel running in the background played the news about the young man who was murdered by his father-in-law as he belonged to a different caste. In another bit of news, a father hacked his own daughter with a machete for marrying a guy from another caste.
Can the six-figure balance in her bank account stop Kavitha and her lover from becoming the next victims?
Image Source – Pixabay
Curious student for life. Periyar, Ambedkar, & Marx fills my gray matter; but I'm no blind pop-culture follower wearing a Che Guevara on my Tee, but a critical thinker who'll question any regressive read more...
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