The Quest

A father gets up from the bed and walks to the toilet. He stands shocked and devastated at the entrance of the toilet – his daughter has hanged herself from a ceiling kook her body is suspended by the neck and is not supported by anything. The father stands dumbfounded with his shoulders he tries to support the daughter’s feet but no response is received from her still body; her feet are cold and hard. The father doesn’t know what to do next; he rushes out of the house and calls his neighbours for help for getting the ambulance and the police.Why has she hanged herself to die? What has killed all her inspiration to live? Why have the age-old traditions have compelled her to marry? Why is the marriage so important in her life? History tells us at one time slave trading was considered no different from trading other goods and services. Just as bulls and cows horses and mares were traded between people; men and women could also be captured and traded. In the early ages of civilisation it was customary to invade neighbouring countries and capture prisoners of both sex and of various ages and use them as slaves. If we look at the tradition of marriages it was started as a way of getting woman slaves not just by kidnapping and capturing from the road but by negotiating with the parents of the young woman. The man getting the woman slave for life used to be termed as the groom and the woman slave used to be termed as the bride.