After being disfigured beyond recognition in a terrible acid attack in 2005, twenty-six-year-old Laxmi has now become a mother.
Laxmi has given her seven-month-old daughter the adorable name ‘Pihu’ and the baby, like her mother, will sport a single name.
For somebody who has had to live with stares and often hostility whenever she appeared in public, finding love and a soul mate seemed a hopeless dream — until she met Aloke Dixit, 28, with whom she now runs the Stop Acid Attack Campaign. The couple, who have been living together, took some time before they introduced their baby to the world.
“For the initial 6 to 7 months we needed time for the baby and also for us. We wanted to relax. Also, because of our busy schedule, we were not able to bring ‘Pihu’ in front of the world. But we finally thought it was time to do it.”
Laxmi was attacked in 2005 in a busy marketplace when she was only 16 years old by a man more than twice her age and whose advances she had rejected. Dixit says the decision not to get married was mutual. So also was the decision not to introduce their child to the public immediately after her birth.
“Laxmi has gone through a lot of tragedies. She lost her father and her younger brother very recently. So we did not want people to bombard her with questions,” says Dixit.
Dixit says they don’t intend to get married. “I do not believe in the institution of marriage. I believe two people do not need a certificate to live together. So in the beginning itself, we had decided that we are not marrying and would stay together in a live-in relationship, says Dixit.
Born in March, Pihu accompanies her mother everywhere and spends most of her time at the NGO Chaanv, the office of Stop Acid Attack. “Pihu does not have a surname. She will not have one,” says Laxmi. “We encountered a few problems while getting her a birth certificate, but ultimately it has the name of both the mother and the father because both of us are together.”
Dixit says he had trouble convincing his parents about the arrangement. In the end, love triumphed. “I come from a very conservative family and it was not easy explaining our relationship to my parents. My parents are exactly our opposite. But gradually, they have begun to accept us, though they still do not completely approve of the live-in relationship,” says Dixit.
Laxmi recalls that she was very weak when she learnt about her pregnancy. Having undergone several operations to reduce the intensity of the burns, she was advised to take great care of herself and the child in her womb.
But, admits Laxmi, there was always an underlying fear about her daughter’s response to her appearance. “I was scared and often used to ask Alok about what would happen if her face scared Pihu. But Alok would always reassure me,” says Laxmi.
Laxmi had won the International Women of Courage Award in 2014, given to her by the U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, for her campaign to put an end to acid attacks against women in India.
