A future for their children
Living independently after years of abuse, two sisters work to help their sons succeed abroad.
By Soraya Keiser
Photo by Emma Lovell
Murti crouches in the dirt, eye-level with the green hay that she chops with a sickle. Her practiced hand effectively swipes through bunches of the thin stalks while her sister Roshni cuts down mustard plant to make into oil.
Every day Murti, 64, and Roshni, 62, walk 15 minutes to their field outside of Titram to collect barshim as fodder for their four water buffalo. Along with the commercial wheat field adjacent to the barshim, the sisters sell milk from their buffalo as a source of income.
Married into the same family and ultimately forced to marry the same man, Murti and Roshni lived in fear of their alcoholic husband and violent in-laws. After suffering 12 years of abuse, Murti and Roshni decided that they were done. Both armed with sticks, they would fight back every time they — or their young sons — were harassed. Eventually they gained back enough power to move in together, independent from their husband.
Five years ago, the in-laws left Titram. Murti still carried her stick for protection in case they returned. But now enough time has passed, and she feels safe again.
“Now that they are gone, why would I need a stick?” Murti said.
Collecting the barshim, grinding it into fodder, milking the water buffalo. These seemingly mundane tasks have held the key for Murti and Roshni. The key to freedom from abuse. The key to prosperity for their children. The key to a life of their own.
Breaking the cycle of abuse, Murti and Roshni work to improve their children’s futures. Murti’s son Manjeet, 30, owns a liquor store in Titram, and Roshni’s son Amarjeet, 21, lives in England.
Four months ago he received a student visa, and now he studies while working in a furniture store. The sisters don’t know where or what specifically because the non-Hindi words are too confusing for them. It cost the family all their savings, 2 million rupees ($24,000) to send Amarjeet more than 4,100 miles from home. They don’t know how they will get that money back, but Murti is not worried. She hopes to eventually save enough so Manjeet can move too. He dreams of making more money in Canada. Whatever the cost may be, Murti will work to pay it.
“We live for our kids,” Murti said.
“We live for our kids”
She dreams of Manjeet marrying a woman and everyone — even grandchildren — living under her hard-earned roof in Titram. But she will not force anyone to be a wife. Manjeet’s future wife can first study and then choose to be married.
She did not have such options. Murti knows if she had been educated at all, she would not have suffered abuse from her husband’s family. And her daughter-in-law will never suffer such things.
“I’ll hold her close to my heart,” Murti said.
After collecting enough feed for her buffaloes, Murti sticks her sickle in the ground and tosses the barshim onto a tarp made of sown plastic bags. She ties the tarp and Roshni helps hoist the bundle onto Murti’s head.
From there the sisters will walk together down a dirt road, cutting through swaths of green and yellow fields owned by men, to a home that is entirely their own.