Yasmeen (name changed) was freshly out of teens when her marriage was fixed with Shameem—a tall and handsome boy, just like she had imagined for herself. Elated and excited, the twenty-one year old left her hometown Pataudi in Haryana and came to Tughlakabad village in Delhi. She was married for only three months when her health started deteriorating. One day she found blood in her vomit and within two days she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Yasmeen thought life was crumbling around her and although the doctor told her that TB was curable, the stigma and the fear weakened her resolve day by day. “I used to be either angry or sad. I started blaming my marriage to be ill-fated. My mother-in-law’s taunts added insult to injury and I went back to my parents’ house,” recalls Yasmeen.

Read more at www.downtoearth.org.in