"I won’t marry my whole life. Marriage is not something that I want in my life. I will dedicate my life to my daughters for their upbringing and education. During my days daughters were not sent to school. So my parents got me married at the age of 12. I didn’t know what marriage means at that time. Mother would say that I have to be respectful to everyone and do all household work. I saw my husband, my husband’s face only after marriage. After marriage life changed I have to work a lot in my mom’s house. Time goes on and I have my 1st child at the age of 16 and 2nd child at the age of 18. You have a lot more responsibilities when you are mother.”
Most of the men in my village go down to Indila to work so my husband also worked in India as a labourer. He used to carry people to temple in Kedarnath, India (Carry people on their head .People that cannot walk). My family and I lost him in a flood in 2013. He has gone forever. We never found his body. That is the worst thing that has happened to my life. Everything changed after my husbanded died. My mother-in-law’s behaviour also changed toward me. She would blame me for my husband’s death. Life became too hard for me. Being a widow in this society and culture is something you cannot imagine. All the time I am worried about my daughters and about their future and education. There are many sleepless nights for me. People tell me to get married again but I ignore them. I am not getting married again. I am not certain how my new husband will treat my daughters. So I decided to find work for myself so that I can send my daughters to school. I have not got a job as an office helper in the village medical centre. This was something way beyond my imagination and dreams. I am earning 5000 rupees a month. I am so proud of it. I never went to school and now I have got a job. I will save money for my daughters. I want them to be educated and be independent. I don’t want them to face problems like I have in my life.”(Punna B.k,kalikot)