Laxmi did not resist the marriage. She thought “one has to simply marry”. After two years, she gave birth to a son, Sunil. She started spending more time in the shop as Ram had to go to Kathmandu to buy cloth and fabric. Sometimes, she too wanted to go to Kathmandu, but her husband never took her. She did not complain. ‘I am spared the hard work other women in the village have to do,’ she would think. Nevertheless, she felt deprived when she saw youngsters going to school. She desired to be a school-teacher in the village.
Ram’s frequent visits to Kathmandu got him used to urban amenities—expensive alcohol and nice dresses, among other things, and he began despising life in the village market. He sold his shop and a part of his land to buy a small tailoring shop in Kathmandu’s tourist centre, Thamel. The family lived in the backroom. Laxmi had initially not wanted to come to Kathmandu, but the thought of sending Sunil to a school in the city had lured here to the capital. She had transferred her own desire to study onto Sunil, who was soon admitted to a government school.
Laxmi started to worry about Ram’s increased consumption of alcohol while Ram kept her locked up, jealously guarding his beautiful wife. He started beating her, and forced her to work as a dishwasher at a local hotel. The only solace Laxmi found was in her son; the two shared a bond that grew stronger each day.
