Malati was standing at the Centre of the courtyard of her house with a sickle (farming tool) in her hand. She was behaving unhibited sometimes saying something unfathomable. Suddenly she threw the sickle on the ground and shrieked loudly. The crowd that gathered on her courtyard dispersed a bit and someone murmured “she has been possessed again”.
Many among us may not be aware of this term “possessed” which is actually an occult and is quite rampant in remote areas where electricity is still a luxury. Hindus take the effect on face value, believing that is “kali”. Some westerners studying this don’t see an occult side to it at all and rationalize it away. To them this is an outburst from the unconscious mind of some Hindu women due to their Regressive lives.
Malati a small village girl got married to Madhav who lived with his father and worked in nearby city. First few months of her new life was rosey and seemed to be perfect what she dreamt of. But things started changing when Madhav left for his workplace with a promise to come soon. Days passed by and Malati’s feminine instinct felt somewhat uncomfortable in presence of Madhav’s father. She never mustered the courage to tell Madhav about his father. But things took ugly turn when someone knocked at her door at the dead of night only to be surprised to see Madhav ‘s father drunk and gestured in lewd way. Sensing something wrong she closed the door immediately but the ordeal continued. Malati could not found out a way to get rid of this impending danger.
She was a village girl and was accustomed to many types of sorcery, occult s which are quite prevalent in small and remote villages like Malati’s and took the garb of being possessed to save herself from her molester.