Manjula an incredible story of Betrayal and survival

Manjula Das: An Incredible tale of Betrayal and Survival
 
Leslie Ann Tripathy
 
Its important for us to recognize our Heroes and She-roes.
                                                                                 -Maya Angelou
 
My Grandma always told me, life is always difficult for a girl, because in India, her
 
beauty is her gift as well as her curse. Thats the story of an incredible woman called
 
Manjula Das born at Pattamundai, in a village of Orissa in the year 1960.
 
Its so difficult on the part of a woman to survive in a world dominated by men. She has to
 
be a slave, she is treated as a commodity. She has to be subservient. The moment she
 
raises her voice, she is crushed, downgraded, defiled and crucified.
 
 That is her story, born in a village, where
 
she went to nearby college to do her B.A. She had to tolerate million comments about the
 
dresses she wore to college. Manjula said, Because of financial hardship, I could not do
 
my M.A, so I  accepted a job in school. I got married to a fellow who turned out to be a
 
drunkard. He lost his job and started torturing, asking for more dowry. I had paid Rs.1
 
lakh in dowry so that he could open a shop. He pawned my gold and sold all property for
 
liquor. She gave birth to two sons. Then the fellow disappeared. He returned after 2
 
months of getting a job in some transport company in Bhubaneshwar, he visited the kids
 
on every Saturday and would beat his wife and abuse her.
 
Manjula says,  All my life I struggled to survive .There was this property dispute
 
with my uncle who was a lawyer. He threatened, slandered and abused me, assassinating
 
my character because I did not agree to give my family property away.
 
She filed a case, in the local police station. Because he was a lawyer, police did not arrest
 
him. Police did nothing. Uncle hired goons, who would abuse near the window, door and
 
would throw stones into her house. Her mother got injured when a stone hit her in the
middle of the night. She and her family were systematically tortured for 1 year because
she had dared to lodge an F.I.R. Ultimately she appealed to relations and some local
 people. Then a meeting was arranged, where she apologized and withdrew the case
because the victim in in India has to be further victimzed.. This is a case of sheer
negligence, police apathy, even brutality. Even the police spread rumours that I was a
prostitute and I did not have a good character, it is so easy to run a woman down. I felt
betrayed when nobody from my society stood by me, when I needed their support the
most, opines Manju. So as a woman Manju faced double jeopardy, she was harassed by
her uncle and by the custodians of law.
.
Theres no greater tragedy than bearing an untold story inside you, said Toni
Morrison in Beloved, in which she talked about women how they were treated like
witches. Be it Tehmina Durranis My Feudal Lord, or the brave face of Pakistan,  
Mukhtar Mai, who sought justice after being gang raped all survived because of their
sheer guts. The story of womens suffering has continued for ages and in real life there
are not many Alice Walkers, Maya Angelous to tell their tales. The story of Manju is not
making her way to fiction but definitely its a stuff courage is made of. She went through
the holy fire of suffering and brutality. Today she lives as a teacher, and continues her
fight with undying courage and tenacity. We salute these unsung heroes.