Family talk

...Most of the girls of the stall were very amused by my piercings, so I used that as a base to enquire about them . I asked why they don't pierce their ears too and  most of them said that their mother would hit them. When I questioned them further, they admitted that their mother and their brothers beat them often. I asked if they prefer school or home. All of them said school because they could do whatever they want at school. I spoke to over 11 children.  Most of them either had incomplete families or got beaten up at home. Kiran and Keerthana seemed to be most happy to speak about their family. Satya, on the other hand, was the most difficult person to interact with. Getting to talk to us about her family was impossible. She did tell me about her sister and a brother, but when I tried enquiring about her brother she would just withdraw. Meena also was very stringent initially, but upon further enquiry I realised that her brother had passed away, and that was something that was holding her back. She revealed that playing sports made her happy and she enjoyed activities that kept her physically engaged. I felt that this was her escape as any emotional or verbal advances i made towards her caused her to immediately shut down...

-- Sushmita Oruganti