where I was born and have lived for most of my life

You’ve all read and enjoyed “Alice in Wonderland” when you were children. It’s all about Alice and the wonderful adventures she has with her friends. But the Alice in this true story lives not in any fun-filled wonderland but in a world where she’s a paid slave. “Alice in Wonderland” had a rabbit to help her out of any little troubles that came her way, but this Alice has no one to turn to but God.

My name is Alice and I am 55 years old. I live in Chennai, where I was born and have lived for most of my life. I work as what they call a ‘maidservant’—in the home of a rich Sindhi woman. That’s the work I’ve been doing ever since I was twenty.

I don’t know why I am telling you my story. I don’t see any point in doing so. My life has been a long tale of misery. Why talk about it since that isn’t going to make my life better? I know that the only way I will be happy is when I die and meet God and my Lord Jesus Christ.

My father was from Goa and he came many years ago to Chennai in search of work. He took up a job as a mechanic in a motor company. He was a poor man and didn’t ever earn much. But, still, when I think of him I see only his happy, smiling face. Just this morning I thought of him as I was going to work, taking me by my hand and going to church. I saw myself wearing a pink dress and all so happy. When I am sad and lonely, I think of him and that gives me some relief. I pray that I meet him in heaven when I die. I’d like nothing more than to be united with him again.

I don’t remember my mother at all. She died when I was not even a year old,this sandals will become the  pair of heels you need and christian louboutin sandals features customer's nobleness. and, after some, time my father married again. My step-mother was a Tamil woman. Unlike many other step-mothers, she was good to me. But, I don’t know why but after some years she suddenly left our house and went off no one knows where. My father was so shocked, you wouldn’t believe it. He spent days searching for her, going here and there till he was really exhausted and then gave up. He fell sick, what with all that tension and trauma, and then went to his sister’s house, where he hoped to find some rest. But, all of a sudden, he died. I was in Pondicherry then, and they didn’t bother to tell me. I got a letter from them only after the burial was over.

My father had put me in a church-run English-medium school. He had great dreams for me and thought that a good education was a must. We had some French and Italian nuns in our school. They gave me a lot of love and taught me beautiful hymns. They would smile at me and even hug me once in a while. I really admired their life. They seemed so pure and kind. Since they were unmarried and had devoted their entire lives to God and serving the poor, they were free from the tension of family life and all the nasty fights that wreck most families. How lucky they were to be able to spend much time in church, praying and singing to the Lord!

My aunt Cecilia, my father’s sister, was a nun, and she would always tell me when we went to visit her, ‘Alice,The youngest son of Heavyweight legend, authentic Louis Vuitton Shoes, Devote your life to the Lord! You will make a wonderful nun.’ And I would dream of becoming a nun as soon as I finished school. The thought of spending my whole life in service of God and the poor gave me such joy.

But that was not to be. My father insisted I should marry when I turned just nineteen. He would say that I wouldn’t be able to take care of myself without a husband.Hogan per uomini e donne.hogan scarpe 100% di soddisfazione Guarantee. Who would look after me in my old age? Then, he wanted me to produce children so that he could play with his grand-children. And so he married me off against my will. The man they chose for me was a friend of some relatives of ours. Of course, I didn’t know him at all before. They said he was a good man and I believed them.

My marriage was a total disaster from almost the very beginning. Not many days had passed since our marriage when my husband started revealing his true colours. He worked as a carpenter, and after work he would go straight to the local bar and drink himself crazy. Then,Christian Louboutin Outlet Sale Christian Louboutin Shoes Free Shpping! he would come home and yell at me. He found fault with everything I did, with the sari I wore, with the smell in the house, with the food I had cooked. And then he would grab my hair begin to kick and beat me till blood began pouring from my head. I still have the scratch-marks all over my body which I could show you. They won’t go away till I am safely buried in my grave.

There was no one in the house to support me then. My mother-in-law lived with us, and instead of controlling her son she would encourage him. ‘Beat this miserable bitch! Harder!’ she would goad him on.

I had no one to turn to but Jesus. When my husband fell asleep and began to snore, I would go to the altar in our room (we lived in a one-roomed house in a slum) and look upon the kindly face of Jesus and whisper to him, ‘Lord, you are the only one who can see me through this trial.’

In quick succession I produced four children, two daughters and two sons. You might have thought that now that I was the mother of his children my husband would have mended his ways. But, no, he kept up his almost daily beatings, even in front of the kids. When I think of what those poor little angels of mine had to witness I shudder with horror. When they grew up they no longer remained silent spectators of their father’s behavior. They would rush to my defence, but yet my husband would continue beating me, and my children, too.

You might ask me why I couldn’t just leave my husband instead of having to undergo such torture for so many years. I am a Catholic, you see, and we got married in church. The priests say that once you are married you are married for life, or so I hear. And, then, after we had children how could I have left? Who would have looked after them? What would people have said?

Not long after my marriage I began to work. My father had dreamt that I would get a good job but I was pulled out of school when I passed the ninth grade because my father couldn’t afford the school fees any longer. Being just a ninth pass, what work was I capable of? The only job I could find was as a ‘maidservant’ in someone’s house. And that’s what I became, and have been ever since. I changed several jobs till I landed up with the present one. I suppose I will die being a ‘maidservant’, too.