Author’s Note: Every one of my women with spunk stories are true stories, narrated to me by the women who went through these challenges in life, and overcame them with sheer grit and determination. Names have been changed to protect their privacy

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With each pull of Ram’s hand, Bhoomija felt her child’s existence ebbing away from her. A strength she did not know she had possessed her and she fought both her husband and mother-in-law off. She locked herself in the bedroom and asked her father to come and take her away. She packed her bags and opened the door only when her father called out to her.

From the time her father walked into the house, Ram’s mother let out a string of expletives and accusations. Her father silently listened to everything and once she was out the door, he quietly turned to Ram’s mother and said, “Enough now. She’s leaving with me.”

Bhoomija went back home with her father. They visited the gynaecologist immediately to assess any further damage from all the emotional and physical trauma of the past few days. Thankfully the baby was safe and the doctor once again insisted on bed rest.

Bhoomija’s family was supportive of her needs and not once did her parents chastise or judge her for walking away from her husband. They supported her and assured her she was welcome to stay as long as she needed to. They advised her to live and be healthy for her child who was on the way.

Unknown to Bhoomija, due to all the mental trauma she endured day after day at the hands of her in-laws, depression had begun to slowly set in and settled itself in her psyche. However she was neither aware nor diagnosed of it. It festered within her like a wound that had been left untreated for too long.

Meanwhile, Ram would call on and off and convey his family’s stand on the whole situation. She was welcome back home if she would apologise to them. Bhoomija was firm in this matter. She had nothing to apologise for, she was only keeping her child safe. 

She tried to explain several times to Ram that this was the time his wife needed him the most, she was having their baby and they should be experiencing this entire magical journey together. Ram was not able to get past the apology which his family felt was owed to them and made sure he didn’t forget.

In a few short months it was finally time for the baby to come out to the world. Bhoomija tried one last time to call Ram and call him to her side but yet again all he would say was that the family was waiting for her apology and all would be present for the delivery only if she would apologise.

Her father was a rock during this time. He went as far as to tell Bhoomija he would stand by her in the labour ward if she so wished. While Bhoomija was touched by this declaration, all she wanted was for her newborn to see both the parents first and foremost before anyone else.

She tried one last time to call Ram when the contractions began. She told him all she wanted for their child was to see them both when he or she opened his eyes to the world for the first time. Somehow this hit a nerve and Ram found himself rushing to her side. With Ram by her side as was her most ardent wish, their son Luv was born.

A month after Luv was born, circumstances conspired to give Bhoomija and Ram some much needed alone time with Luv, creating an everlasting bond between father and son. Thereafter, Ram visited more often to spend time with Luv and Bhoomija until one day, he confessed to Bhoomija that he felt this stalemate had gone on long enough and he wanted to set things right.

Ram went home and spoke to his family, he insisted that his wife and son be allowed to come back home. Once again his mother insisted on an apology.

This time things were different though. Trying to find a middle path through the situation for the first time, Ram requested Bhoomija to be the bigger person and apologise but at the same time promised to stand up for her and their son. Bhoomija’s parents also felt she should not be stubborn and adamant and try to meet them halfway.

With a lot of hope for the future, Bhoomija took Luv and went back home.

You might think this is the turning point, things have to get happier from here! Sadly this wasn’t the case. The next few years set the stage for Bhoomija’s plunge into depression.

Bhoomija was not allowed to enrol Luv in a play school. She wasn’t even allowed to take him to the playground to bond with other children or play with them. Whether it was over protectiveness or an obsessive need to control ever aspect of her son’s life on Ram’s mother’s part, we will never know. But it served to deepen Bhoomija’s depression and plunge her deeper into the darkness.

Every single day, most of the world lived their life on their terms while Bhoomija and Luv were locked up at home, constantly isolated not just from the outside world, but even from Ram who was too busy at work to even realise the extent of Bhoomija’s torture. True to her personality, Bhoomija never revealed the full extent of her troubles to Ram either.

In hindsight, Bhoomija realises it was not just her mother-in-law who could be blamed for the situation she found herself in. Today she feels there were many things she should have put her foot down on and been more assertive as bullies do not respond well to assertiveness. 

Once again she was isolated from her near and dear ones and yet she submitted to it all. By this time she was so crushed and heartbroken that her fierce and rebellious nature died within her while depression began to rear its head.

Ram meanwhile was pursuing further education in another town and had no inkling of what his wife and son were going through. Nobody expects their own family to treat their wife and child worse than complete strangers. We all trust our family to do right by us.

Sadly though, this blind trust became the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Respite came in the form of a relocation for Bhoomija and Luv. But what Bhoomija didn’t know was that they were about to jump from the frying pan to a completely different fire.

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