Gowri

Chapter 22

Aunts Narration:


We had never seen women who did not like her husband so much. We were all married when we attained puberty. My mother in law even before that. In today’s world we are considered as kids. Did not know what would happen with our husband. But we all bore children and have a wonderful life.

We noticed that Gowri was getting up early, having a bath and helping out in the kitchen. She would never talk to any of us, not to Ganesan. If we asked her anything she would reply, otherwise was very silent. Even when she limped, and we asked her what is wrong, she never replied.

As days went by, she would not comb her hair. We had to remind her and then she would go and knot it. She stopped braiding her hair. Sometimes when we were free one of us would make her sit and comb her long hair and braid it. But most days it was just knotted.

Slowly she stopped wearing good sarees. She would wear the same cotton saree for days together. Then we had to tell her to wear a different one.

After she came after the month of Adi, she would get up in the morning and go to the back room and go back to sleep. She would get up when she pleases. If we go and wake her up, she would just sit for a little while and go back to sleep.

Then she started eating at odd hours or not eat at all.

Many times her mother came and spoke with her, but of no avail.

Gowri the beautiful girl had turned into a wreck.

It was now almost a year after the wedding. No signs of happiness in either Gowri or Ganesan.

Gowri, now started getting nightmares. She would get up in the middle of the night and sob uncontrollably. Then my mother in law would say she got scared of something and take her to the pooja room , ask her to say a prayer and then send her back to sleep. This was a frequent episode, at least once a week.

This went on for about six months to one year.



Chapter 23

Ganesans narration:


Now that it was 2 years since I was married, people started asking me what was wrong. Why was I not becoming a father. I did not want to expose Gowri as she was getting madder by the day. I would just smile and say it will happen soon. In the night when Gowri came in and I tried to make small conversations, she would just close her eyes shut and cover her ears. Thus went another year,

Aunts narration:

You could not call her totally mad as sometimes she would sit and teach the children homework. She would look very bright when they spoke about school. At times she would even play for long time with them.

But Gowri was behaving abnormally. She would sit in a corner with a sloka book, reading the slokas again and again non stop for many hours. We had to literally pull the book away from her for her to stop. She would then start crying like a baby, whose toy was taken.

The kids in the house knew there was something wrong with her. They knew her many moods and kept away from her when they saw a distant look in her eyes.

It was now 3 years after the wedding.

One day as usual when Ganesan and all his brothers and dad had sat for dinner. Gowri was standing in the corner of the kitchen. My mother in law asked Ganesan, “why da, what is wrong with Gowri, she is not getting pregnant, is something wrong” Then everyone started giving one advice or the other. Ganesan could take it no more and he said “Gowri does not sleep with me. She sits in the corner and does not allow me touch her”

All hell broke loose. Everyone scolded Gowri and she never spoke. I even gave her a slap. But still she meekly stood sobbing.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

 

Chapter 24


Ganesan Narration:

I told everybody to stop harassing the poor woman. My dad said “first thing in the morning we will call her parents and decide what should be done”

In the morning her parents came and they sat around discussing the events and Gowri as always stood meekly by her mother sobbing. Her mother scolded her and said she had brought shame to the family.

It was decided everyone would keep quiet for a week and then they would decide what to do. Gowri’s mom requested Gowri to understand the situation and comply with Ganesan. She said within a month or so she should get pregnant. Now Gowri became all the more agitated. She would never sleep. She kept walking around the room most of the time. Nothing had changed. Gowri had become worse.

After a week, the village elders all gathered with my in laws to decide on the next course of action. My father said “we have to get Ganesan married again” My mother in law started wailing to give another chance. She pleaded with Gowri, but Gowri never opened her mouth or showed any emotion.

One of the elders said “Probably Gowri is not a virgin and has slept with someone else, that is why she was so scared to sleep with Ganesan” On hearing this my mother in law cursed that man and said he cannot talk rubbish. She said it is OK and Ganesan can get married again. Question of where Gowri would stay and the return of the lands and jewellery.

I said “she can stay with us, no one need to say I kicked my wife out. We will take care of her, don’t worry”

My father in law said “how is that, she is our daughter, we don’t want to burden you much”

My mother in law said “it is OK let her stay there in her husband’s house. That is only the good thing. If she comes back, people will point fingers and we have granddaughters to think of”

Gowri did not open her mouth and came back home.

She did not seem distressed. She did not show emotion. She meekly walked home with her mother in law.

Everyone was surprised by her attitude and some scolded her and some said she had missed a golden chance to be a queen. Some wondered “what is wrong with Ganesan”

But Gowri stayed with us.


Aunts Narration.


We all felt very sorry for Gowri. What made her like this. Did she not understand the gravity of the situation? If Ganesan got married, how would his wife react to Gowri?. Would their relationship be cordial?. Would Ganesans new wife be willing to accept to take care of Gowri all her life?

Would Gowri become madder as the days progressed?

My Mother in law still had hopes that they could make Gowri all right. But at the same time she was sending word through everyone to look for a bride for Ganesan.

Nagamma was from the next village. She had studied till the 6th standard. She was 17 years old and came from a well to do family.

Nagamma’s family was given a background of Ganesans first marriage and how Gowri had turned out to be mad. It was once and again emphasized that Gowri’s parents had hidden the fact that she was mad and had got Gowri married. His life was wrecked. Ganesan was faultless was a very good person.

They also explained that Ganesan had such a good heart that he had decided Gowri would stay in his house. He did not want the village to say he had abandoned his wife because she was mad. But they assured Nagamma and her family that Gowri would never interfere with their married life. It was a joint effort of the entire family to take care of Gowri.

After a lot of enquiries and visits Nagammas family agreed and Ganesan married Nagamma.

The marriage was a grand affair. Gowri too attended the wedding, we forced her to wear a silk saree. Much to her reluctance we made her wear some jewellery. She sat in a corner and watched everything. But when the sound of the gettimelam came she ran from the hall screaming and went to the corner room and shut herself. Her mother went to check on her and she was O.K.

Nagamma had a very happy married life.


TO BE CONTINUED..........

 

Chapter 25

Nagamma’s (ayahs) Narration:

Ganesan was a very good man. He never ill-treated me. I had 5 children.

When I moved into the house, Gowri seemed like any normal person. She would cook and do all household work. But once the men came, she would run and sit in her room. She would start shivering if she heard Ganesans voice. She hated us laughing or making loud noises.

Though I was married to Ganesan, my mother in law still tried her best to bring Gowri and him together. She would say “have we never heard of a man having 2 wives. So let Ganesan have 2 wives. She is after all his first”. Much to my dislike, sometimes she would force Gowri to go and serve him food or take a towel when he goes for his bath. At such times, Gowri would scream and rush and hide under the bed in the back room. Soon they stopped harassing the poor thing. I felt very sorry for her. But what could I do.

It was during this time that Gowri started going out of the house. She would leave early morning and go to the temple and sit there for hours on end. She would eat the prasadam everyone gave her. Soon the entire village was talking about her. They wondered if she was doing this because of her husband’s second marriage. Some also said she was being neglected, who would take care of a woman, after he married someone else. Probably they never fed her. That is why she was sitting in the temple all day long.

When the whole town was talking, one day my father in law called Ganesan and said “Our name is being spoiled by that Gowri, why is she sitting in the temple all day long. She is after all your wife, why not you scold her”

Ganesan “Appa she does not talk to me, you know that. How can I scold her, she is very scared of me. The minute she sees me she will run crying and hide”

My mother in law “dey, you have every right to scold her, go and tell her and she will listen.”

Soon Ganesan went to the temple and called out to her “Gowri” She got up all scared and started to walk away. Ganesan went and held her hand and started dragging her home. Gowri was terrified and kept screaming. She had to be slapped to be kept quite. Poor Gowri came home with red cheeks. Ganesan took her and pushed her into the back room and locked the door. He told my Mother in law not to let her out.

Gowri was not let out for a few days. She would cry and plead but no one bothered. After a few days the door was left open. Once again Gowri got that distant look and refused to leave the room. It took almost a month for her to come into the kitchen.

From then she was not communicative. Even if we said something, she would not say yes or no. Not even shake her head. She started talking to herself. She would sit in the dining area and keep talking to herself. Very rarely she spoke to the children or told them stories or helped with homework. The children too started getting scared of her.


Chapter 26

Aunts narration:

It was at this time that we thought of consulting an astrologer. Appa brought this guy and he spent half a day reading the horoscopes of Ganesan and Gowri and Nagamma. He said there was nothing wrong with any of the horoscope and recommended Gowri be taken to the temple every day. From then on every morning one of us would take her to the temple. But the situation remained the same.

Then we heard of a mosque where you could go and tie up these mentally disturbed people for 40 days and they would get cured. So we took Gowri to this mosque and tied her up there. She cried and pleaded not to be left there, but we did. After 40 days when we brought her home, she was in worse shape. Her hair was filled with lice and her face and body was covered with insect bites. She was running high temperature and had a bad cough. Thatha called the village doctor and he treated her for over a month. Since it was difficult to give her medicines, she was given an injection every day. After a month she was physically ok.

Her mother kept coming to see her. Initially her eyes would light up on seeing her, but later she never seemed to recognize her.

A few months after this one day we saw Gowri standing on top of the well wall. If we had not noticed she would have jumped and killed herself. It was me who saw her and brought her down. Ganesan came running and hit her saying “She was giving the family more and more trouble”. He dragged her and pushed her into the room. My Father in law said the women were responsible for this and we had to keep a watch on her. So during the day, we made her sit in the kitchen and during the night locked her up in the room.

From here slowly, her condition became worse. She would keep laughing some days and suddenly would start crying. Sometimes she would chase the children around the house only to beat them. But most times she would just sit in the dining area talking to herself.


TO BE CONTINUED..........

 

Chapter 27

Aunts narration:

It was getting from bad to worse. People who came to the house were scared to bring their children. Some children who came made fun of her and she would get so angry and scream.

It was then that an herbal medicine man visited the village. He said he was from the Himalayas and came to town in a caravan driven by 2 camels. He would pitch his tent in the corner of every road and stay there for a couple of days and move on.

People who had incurable diseases went to him. Ganesan on hearing of this Himalayan doctor went to see him . The doctor gave him something like gum. He told Ganesan to give Gowri a small pinch every day. He said she would be cured.

So we started giving her this medicine every night. She would sleep without nightmares of any disturbance all night. She would also be drowsy during the day. She would sit in the dining area not talking to anyone. She was like a man who had had a couple of drinks. But we were relieved that she was very quiet.

After about 2 weeks of taking this medicine, we noticed Gowris hands were shivering. She could not hold a glass. She would prefer always sitting as she had tremors in her legs. One day her mother came and pleaded with us to stop the medicine. She said her daughter was slowly dying. We never know what that Himalayan doctor had given her.

We stopped the medicine. But the minute we stopped it, Gowri started crying in the night, she would be shivering with cold and suddenly sweat. She would scratch the walls and cry with stomach ache. We did not know what to do. After a week of suffering thus she recovered. She came back to sitting and talking to herself.

Now was the time that she stopped taking care of herself. She would never have a bath. We had to force her out of her room and sometimes even beat her to bathe. Then we had to dry her long hair and comb it. Keeping her clean was becoming a big task for all of us.

Then came a poojari who said he can cure her. We spent a lot of money and arranged the pooja. He was the one who burnt her leg with a heated rod. Gowri suffered from this for 2 long months. She kept crying and from them on would not part with the rope she had found near the well. It looked like she took a lot of comfort from that rope.

Then slowly time went by. The children all grew up, went to college, Got married. Gowri also started aging. Nobody was there to disturb her. She just sat in her room with her sloka book and rope.

As years went by, she obeyed everything we said. She never came out of her room. We took food to her.

But of late I have grown old and I forget she is there. If I am reminded of her, I give her food. My mother in law has become old and has knee pain and is not able to walk much. She has stopped coming to the kitchen. It is not that we neglect Gowri, but at times we forget her.


Chapter 28

Balan and I were astounded at what had happened to poor Gowri. Balan was very angry. When we had a moment to talk he asked me “Anita do you realize what happened to Gowri Amma”

I shook my head and he said “she was just a child and they got her married. She was raped repeatedly by Ganesan. This terrorized her and caused a great deal of depression, no one understood her”

I said “But in those days everyone got married young”

Balan “yes they did, but it affects some of them, and Gowri Amma had no one to turn to. Her mother could not understand her. With absolutely no one to talk about her problem she fell deep into depression and this has made her into a wreck that she is”

We stayed for a week, slowly Balan spoke to Gowri and I told her she will be safe and we are taking her.

A mild sedative was given to her and we took her to Chennai in a taxi.


TO BE CONTINUED......

 

Dear Sir,

Thank you again for your comments. By now you would have read the latest chapters.

The lady who lost her speech was lucky to get back her voice. But imagine if she was branded.

It is sad superstitions and black magic still exist. You might have heard about the murders of 2 women in Kerala. How crazy can people get!!.
I met a lady sometime back, who had a circular scar on her arm. I asked her how she got it. She said, in her Village they brand a person to cure jaundice. I was shocked.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

Regards
Uma

 

Chapter 22

At Chennai Balan took her straight to the hospital. He made sure only 2 lady nurses were to take care of her. For one month, nothing was said to her. She was fed nutritious food and given mild medication. With all the care Gowri started looking better. She started trusting the nurses and Balan.

In a couple of months, Gowri was improving by leaps and bounds. She would walk by herself around the hospital. Her eyes stopped having that glazed look. But in spite of all the counseling, she never spoke. Balan said it would take years of counseling for her to talk of her fears and the life she had lived.

In about 8 months we started taking her out and bringing her home for the weekend. Still she was not communicative.

In two years, she has improved to the level, where she picks up the newspaper and reads it. She watchs TV with interest. Though she never discusses anything with us we feel we have gone so many steps forward in rehabilitating her.

The last time she was here, she washed the vessels in the kitchen and put them back on the shelf.

Sometimes she smiles to herself, but I dare not ask her why, lest the happy memory would fade.

In all my growing years, I never gave a thought as to what had happened to Gowri. How could she be treated like that. How could her own mother abandon her, a mere child who knew nothing? How could Ganesan force himself on her, a mere child. I don’t blame anyone as they were ignorant and did what they thought best.

I am glad, I took Balan to our village and he was able to treat her. I pray that the evening of her life is a happy one.

THE END ------