Abuse Isn’t the Worst Part About Brangelina or Depp-Heard

Each one of us is responsible for supporting and promoting abuse

My parents back in India employ a lady for cleaning the house who comes in every day and cleans the house and does the dishes — her name is Shanti. She isn’t a full-time helper but spends an hour every day at my parents’ house doing these chores.

She was in many ways the breadwinner for her household.

Her husband was a daily wage laborer who’d earn far less than she would, and spend most of it and more on an alcohol addiction every night.

When his own money ran out, he’d demand money from his wife — our helper. She’d refuse because that was money to run the house — put a roof on their heads and feed them and their three boys.

But her refusal was met with a beating — that’s what drunk men do.

This was a daily occurrence.

When she told us, we told her she should file a police complaint and that we’d support her every bit. She didn’t want to.

It was a common occurrence in every poor household in India.

During the period when the world was losing people to COVID — Shanti lost a dear one too — her husband succumbed to a bout of the infection.