Justice Sridevan: I never had that kind of clarity or fire inside me. The person I became eventually and the person who, you say, transcended into my orders and judgments, came after my husband died.
It was so sudden, out of the blue. Overnight, life changed and I had to continue and to take control. So, I became whatever I became. Otherwise, I would have stayed in his shadow. That is all I was earlier and I was very happy doing that. But once he was gone, I didn’t have that option anymore.
And I witnessed the widow’s stigma first-hand, because we are quite conservative. This was the year 1993 and a lot had changed. I was not asked to shave my head, but there was so much latent exclusion that I had to face socially and culturally. It was very hurtful. For a while, I did not know what to do with all the hurt and anger, and bitterness that I was feeling. Then someone very wise advised me to channel all that hurt and anger into something positive.
And that was my cue. I realised I could translate such exclusion to something useful. I understood that the law gave me the option to stay in the house, do my job, to not have to brandish a flag or raise my voice, because I am not that kind of a person. But I could still make a difference.
Had life not dealt me such a blow, I might not have engaged with these imbalances that exist in society.
Source: Barandbench
