Destitute Women in Kerala: Psychological resources and psycho ...

timely intervention of one of her teachers at her school saw Indirabhai ending up in a destitute
home.
Ahyamala (33) is an orphan with impaired hearing and totally dumb. Ahyamala had two
brothers and two sisters as kith and kin. Her sisters who were older than her continued to
look for a suitable person to give her in marriage. Her brothers were government employees
but so money-minded that they disposed off Ahyamala’s share of property and deposited the
sale proceeds in a bank. She became an easy pawn in the hands of her greedy brothers who
started exploiting her assets and even maltreating her. Things came to a head when her plight
caught the public eye that brought her to the destitute home through the intervention of the
State Women’s Commission.
Subha (25) seemed to have been better-placed economically than the earlier-mentioned cases.
She has two cents of landed property in Kannur. But she has lost her parents and did not
even know the whereabouts of her only sister who was younger than her. She was with her
uncle up to the age of 13. At the crossroad of adolescence and puberty, her uncle who is
employed in Kakkanad Spinning mill conveniently dumped her in a destitute home. Her relatives
turned up at the home not to take up her welfare but to coerce her to sell away her property.
She longs for a job that would make her free and independent.
Santha (18): It was a domestic quarrel that landed Santha in the destitute home at the
young age of 16. Until then, she had lived with her mother and an elder brother who was
employed in the Customs Department at Kozhikode. Little had she known that her quarrel
with her mother over an earring would end up this way. On that day of quarrel she left her
home in a huff; but on second thoughts and after much wandering when she decided to
return home she fell into the hands of the police who brought her to the destitute home.
Her mother has been visiting her off and on. She stoically declares that she has no problems
at the institution.
K. G. Rani (30) confessed that she suddenly lost the sense of belonging with the death of
her mother and her brother. She got no warmth and affection from her father while her
sister-in-law ill-treated her. When home and hearth turned cold, Rani with the help of her
friend sought shelter in the Mahila Mandir.
Sarika Beevi (49): It was love at first sight that forced Sarika, a Hindu by birth, to marry a
Muslim. She even changed over to the Muslim faith. They have five children of which four
were sons employed as coolies. Her husband too was a worker in a restaurant. They owned
no property but that was not what ailed Sarika. Family conflicts and lack of peace at home
disillusioned her to such an extent that she chose the destitute home.
Nirmala (24) had two children through an inter-caste marriage with her coolie husband
who got murdered in a squabble over politics. Even after his death, Nirmala continued to live
at her husband’s place. But when she became pregnant through an illicit relationship with a
Muslim, she was thrown out of the house. Her husband’s younger brother and a neighbour
brought her to the Mahila Mandir.
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