I met her during my trip with an NGO here, working to help single mothers in the slums of Chennai. She is also a survivor of the recent major floods which destroyed her home.
“When did you lose your husband?”
“About 3 or 4 years ago.”
“And what happened, did leave you or..?”
“No he died. He was killed by others.”
“You mean killed by other locals in your village?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it, I don’t know how or what happened. One day he just left for a ten day trip with his friends, he said it’s for work. But I never heard from him since.”
“How did you find out?”
“After some weeks, the police came to our home, showed me a picture of him. They just said he was killed. Nothing else. I still don’t know how he died. Some say he was pushed from a building, some say he was drunk and got into trouble, or got into a fight. The police didn’t tell me anything. I just went to identify his body, it was rotting and smelly.”
“How old was he?”
“He was 21 or 22.”
“Oh so you lost your husband at 18?”
“Yes, I’m 21 now.”
“How are you living today then?”
“I’m still just living, I have my two kids to take care of, I just want to move on and find any job for an income. That’s all that matters to me today.”
A Single Mother – Surya Nagar, Chennai
