I didn't know what else to do so I made my brother sit on my other thigh and blocked the guy out. I didn't understand what was happening because sexual abuse was alien to me and while I had seen women getting harassed in movies, I never thought such things happen to guys as well. I didn't make much of it until he started sliding it upwards and inwards. The guy next to me slid his hand onto my thigh. This is a situation that my family dealt with but it still remains something of a taboo." "As a kid, I was travelling in a bus with my younger brother who was seated on my lap. I am glad I have a family that believed me over an elder person and that I listened to my gut instinct even back then. Chachu was out of the house the very next day and hasn't been allowed inside our home ever since. He proceeded to remove his pants and make me kiss his penis. One day, he told me that big girls don't kiss on the cheek or the lips. "I was 8 years old and a cousin Chachu was living with us for 3 months. These stories might be long and tedious to read, but they need to be heard. From acquaintances to complete strangers, everyone came forward and told me their story.
While the results were astonishing, it was not unbelievable. I asked around to know if more people around me have been abused as children. We continue to live under the pretense that things like sexual abuse and incest cannot happen in our families or to us. But even after so many instances, we have repeatedly failed to recognize it, and irrevocably failed to educate our kids about it. While the media is discussing this issue at great length, it's not a new phenomenon. Over the past few days, every news outlet has been reporting stories of children being abused across the country.
After failing methodically to evade him, I started sleeping with my mother.īut I'm not the only one who has been inappropriately touched by someone in the family or by someone known to the family. He did everything he possibly could, except penetrate me. It happened again the next day, and the next, and the next. I thought it was just a one-time thing but I couldn't have been more wrong. He told me if I made noise, people would get up and the prospect of them waking up and asking me questions didn't seem too good. I was blatantly uncomfortable, but he continued regardless. I didn't make much of it then but one day, he started touching my breasts. Inadvertently, we ended up sharing one room, with one bed.ĭuring the first few days of this routine, he started keeping his hand on me. There were 5 rooms in the house and everyone took whichever room they preferred. Post lunch, everyone got into the habit of a siesta. We got along quite well, so we spent a lot of time playing and going to nearby places together. There was this guy, my cousin, who was about 18 at that time, I think. I must have been 10-11 back then and we were staying with our extended family. But this time, it was after a long hiatus. It were summer vacations and like every other Malayali family, mine used to go to Kerala as well.