Lalita Kalita. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, May 6: As a bride at 23, she had headed for the great American dream with her NRI husband. But after 12 years of marriage, Lalita Kalita is a broken woman. Not only has she suffered the trauma of divorce, she is still fighting for the custody of her only son, Niloy.

But now, annealed by suffering, Kalita has emerged a warrior for the cause of women like her who are victims of spousal abuse. She wants to caution parents who are under the delusion that they have got a “prized catch” when they marry off their daughters to NRIs.

“They should first verify the credentials of the groom. They should also acquaint themselves with the legal rights and recourse available to their daughters in the US. Parents should remember that their daughters would be all alone there,” she said.

She also felt that a major cause for the failure of many such marriages is that they are a “hurried affair”.

Usually the groom arrives just a few days before the marriage and takes away the bride after completing the formalities. “The girl and the boy hardly get time to interact with each other,” she said.

Lalita had even tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, after which she had to spend several months at a shelter for women. However, the experience was an eye-opener — she now lauds the social support system in the US.

In fact, she is now planning to return to the US and build a sort of a bridge to help women in distress here. “In this age of information technology, I would like to use the Internet to offer counselling to the victims of domestic violence here,” said Kalita.