'My mother never considered my feelings'

Ayesha Beevi, 28, works as a housemaid in Kozhikode, She lives alone in a squalid quarter of the town, a victim of two unsuccessful marriages that very nearly drove her to her death.

Ayesha was married off at 13. Her husband was 60. He had a daughter Ayesha's age. The marriage lasted barely four years. He was jealous and would not allow his adolescent wife to talk to another man. One day someone greeted her on the street. Her husband divorced her the same day. He took their two sons along with him.

Ayesha recalls that part of her life with bitterness: ''I had no father, no brothers. My mother pushed me into the marriage because she thought it was the best thing for me. She never considered my feelings."

She was married off again. This time it lasted ten years. Ayesha was fond of her husband. She bore him a son. Then one day he went away and married another woman.

Ayesha was devastated. He had stripped her of her earnings to start a business selling fish. She sold her house, all the property she had. Now he was gone.

It was five in the morning. Ayesha stood on the edge of the platform watching the train pull in. She lunged forward, and fell squarely on the tracks. The engine was upon her. But her intentions were thwarted. The wheels pushed her off the tracks. She was badly hurt.

''Allah extended my life," she reminisces. ''People just stood and watched. No one came towards me. I picked myself up and went to a clinic. The lady doctor told me to go the medical college. They put fifteen stitches on my head and hands.'"

Ayesha went back to work as a maid. She hopes her husband will give up the other woman and return to her some day.

She is waiting to receive him.