NEW DELHI: This is the story of Haritha. Haritha can be you, me, a friend, that distant cousin, or colleague. She can be any other Indian woman who gets married for the wrong reasons, thanks to a sense of misplaced rationality induced by our patriarchal society, with an over anxious father at the helm of it.
Haritha now lives an independent, free life in Amsterdam, but her experience in India is what over 40,000 people who liked and shared her story on Facebook either associate with, are living in the fear of, or are plain sensitive to. Hers is a story of a bad marriage, an unsupportive family and the tumbling life that follows a divorce – according to the Indian society, of course.
The twist in the story though is that her life doesn’t collapse. And she makes sure she doesn’t let it. Her story (shared in 2 parts) on Humans of Amsterdam’s Facebook page has gone viral since and is full of comments on the lines of ‘more power to you’ and ‘you go girl’, thanking her for inspiring women across the globe who are currently in, or have in the past been in a bad marriage, to walk out and rediscover themselves. Some are even tagging Nike Amsterdam, her former employee, in the comments section to take her back (she lost her job due to leave of absence, dealing with family back in India)
Her fight against hegemonic masculinity gives a lot of women the courage they need and deserve, and it hits home hard for a lot of Indian women. If you know a Haritha, share this with her –
And here’s what followed –
