Domestic Violence | Café Dissensus

May 8

‘What I Am Today, I Won’t Remain Tomorrow’: A Celebration of Resilience and Post-traumatic Personal Growth of Abuse Survivors

By Shreya Chakrabarty
A compendium of tales of self discovery of eight phenomenal women,' What I Am Today, I Won’t Remain Tomorrow', is a feminist telling of the heart wrenching experience of women who have survived domestic abuse, and yet have chosen resilience over victimhood. Through an immersive, and at times intensely personal narrative, the author Nighat M. Gandhi has focused on the traditionally unexpected fact that despite years of suffering many abuse survivors can and do live enhanced lives and experience personal growth.

May 8

Reclamation of rights and agency in Meena Kandasamy’s ‘When I Hit You’

By Vipasha Bhardwaj
Seduced by love and politics, the marriage seemed innocuous at first but soon the husband began his toxic manipulation and gas-lighting by coercing her to delete her Facebook account. Being a writer and having relocated to a new town with no professional connections, Facebook was the protagonist’s only means to the literary world where she could get some freelance work.

May 8

‘When I Hit You’: An Account of an Artist as a Victim of Marital Abuse

By Anindita Mitra
Kandasamy writes a story which is inspired by her short yet disastrous marriage to the person she loved. The anonymous protagonist is the universal representation of every young woman, educated in the language of freedom and feminism, in search of one true love of her life, seeking every opportunity to break away from the stranglehold of familial pressure.

May 8

From ‘The Dark Room’ to ‘Bhumika’: The Perennial Saga of Female Subalternity

By Sambhu Nath Banerjee
Both Urvashi and Savitri are like weary and thirsty travellers, trudging through the dreary desert sand, occasionally coming across a mirage, which finally eludes them and leaves them longing for a sweet, peaceful home.