It was the fourth day after the feast of Pothamma in 1963. During
this festival, women who live in Andhra villages, go in procession to the local
shrine of Pothamma, the Goddess of the earth and of fertility. They offer gifts
to thank her for life and prosperity.
Subhalaxmi felt the happiest person on earth. Three years before, as a girl of 16 years, she had married Thumala Venkayya Chowdhury, the handsome and promising heir of a well to do merchant in the city. Venkayya had proved the kind and hard working husband any girl would wish for.
And he had given her three lovely children: Rangayya, Shivakeshavanarayana and Padmavati.
But that day life turned against her. Her husband had gone to the city to bring articles for the shop. As she was preparing lunch for his return, her brother in law came to tell her that her husband had met with an accident: the lorry in which he had taken a lift, had crashed and overturned. Before he could reach the hospital, Venkayya had died.
After the days of cremation and mourning a still greater trial awaited Subhalaxmi. Her own father and mother, who were very rich people and had no other children decided that she should marry again and leave her children to an orphanage.
They found a suitable candidate for her to marry and wanted to force her to consent.
“Don’t worry about the children”, her mother said. “They are too small to remember you. They will be well looked after.”
“If you don’t marry again, who will look after our family property?” her father added. “I want it for your own good. You are too young.”
Subha was in terrible agony. She did not like to oppose her father and mother. Moreover, she had always wanted to continue her studies in college. Did she not have the right to fulfil her own desires and ambitions?
On, the other hand, she really loved her children and she knew that they would always miss a mother’s love. The orphanage would give them food and clothing. But would they grow up as persons with dignity and respect?
Is the mother not as a God for the child? If the mother doesn’t kiss the child, will a stepmother do so? Can a nursing maid have the same patience with a child as the mother who gave it birth? Do children without mother not often stray into the wrong path?
Through the kindness of a family in that town, she could stay there for some days. Without revealing her true name she told them of her secret. They believed her, helped her to find a simple rented house and got her a cleaner’s job in the local hotel.
Subhalaxmi now called herself Susheela.
Every day she worked for ten full hours in the hotel, scrubbing floors, fetching water, cleaning dishes. Having grown up in relative luxury, she found the job exhausting and humiliating. She noticed that people looked at her with suspicion, imagining that she had led a bad life. Imagine: a single mother with three children!
Day after day she felt the loneliness of being without husband and without relations. But the smiles on the faces of her children gave her the courage to continue.
And when Usha was old enough, she proudly sent her to school with the fees she had saved from her daily wages . . .
Subha died five years later, whether of exhaustion or a disease contracted at work, nobody shall ever know.
Before she died, she called a kindly neighbour and gave him a letter for her parents. In the letter she had written:
“Please, forgive me if I caused you pain. What I did, I did for the love of my children. Please, send them to school and give them the property that belonged to my husband.”
Subhalaxmi’s story is absolutely historical. Only the names have been changed, to protect the family.
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| 1. Self Respect | 2. Integrity | 3. Study | 4. Doubt | 5. Generosity |