“I met him at the Sildevi Mela at Devisthan. He looked healthy and I was attracted towards him. We had started talking to each other and our love grew. Not long after our first meet, I eloped with him and came to his place here in Jay Prithvi. When Father and Mother got the news that I had run away from home, they came looking for me. They tried to take me back home. They said, “Return home with us. This is no way to start a family. We will organize a proper wedding, we will wash the grooms’ feet, there will be a band and then there will be no secret to keep.” I told Father and Mother that time for such things had already passed. I told them that I need no dowry from them and neither did my husband. I told them I will filter soil and my husband will crush stones and we will make a living. I told them that they should return home without me. I told them I had found home with my husband and that I will be taken care of. But back then, I had no way of knowing how difficult my future was going to be.”