At the age of 14, many wouldn't picture their life as a new mother, let alone the wife to another young teen facing alcohol addiction.
In the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, in a country where 40 percent of the world's child marriages are said to be according to UNICEF, that's the reality for at least one girl named Krishna.
For the last three years a Reuters photographer has provided an inside look into the lives of Krishna and her young husband Gopal Kishan, starting with their marriage in May of 2010 – he at the age of 13 and she 11.
Child bride: At 11-years-old, Krishna peeks out from a wedding veil during her elaborate 2010 ceremony to her future husband Gopal Kishan, aged 13
Differences: The ceremony between two as young as them may sound shocking and unusual to some but in India it is nothing unheard of
Beginning: Gopal Kishan stands next to his wife Krishna in 2010, in the first of many photos that would be taken of the young couple over the course of three years
Home together: Now 13 and 15 years old, Krishna stands with her husband Kishan Gopal inside a newly constructed room at their house
Work: Two years after their wedding Gopal Kishan, now 15, works in his family's struggling soybean field outside his village
Reality: Gopal Kishan stands on the edge of the field that's facing irrigation problems, while his father before him looks on
For the following years since, photographer Danish Siddiqui dutifully followed their changing lives together, from the birth of their baby at Krishna’s tender age of 14, to Gopal Kishan's loss of work in his family's struggling soybean fields.
It's that loss of work that encouraged the young father to start drinking Siddiqui wrote with the pictures, a habit that was easily photographed as well as admitted to - especially by Krishna who emotionally displayed her pain before the lens.
In one photograph the girl is seen crumpled on the ground crying, worried her husband would try and hold their child while drunk one day and accidentally drop him instead.
In several others Gopal Kishan is seen pulling bottles and cans up to his bent thin frame while in another he rests smoking lazily around friends.
Lifestyle: Unfortunately for their soon-to-be growing family, Gopal Kishan, will soon need to find more work with the soybean field not producing
Escape: Helping occupy some time, the young father smokes a cigarette while drinking with his friends on the outskirts of their village
Family: Seen under a red dress, left, Krishna at the age of 13 stands next to her husband and rest of their family members outside their home
Work to be found: Krishna, 13, works with some tools in her home while talking with her husband, not seen, who is now struggling to find work with the soybean fields not producing
New mom: One year later at the age of 14 Krishna poses with her four-month-old baby Alok alongside her 16-year-old husband inside the living room of their house
Adding to the young mother’s struggle, Gopal Kishan has told her he thinks he should leave her in the village for work in the city.
Krishna carries her four-month-old son Alok swaddled in her tiny arms - whose delivery she nearly
died from - while facing a reality far different from most.
'As I left the small village, the only thing which bothered me was the future of four-month old Alok,' Siddiqui wrote after his latest pictures were taken of the couple.
'Would he go down the same route his parents took or would he bend societal norms to carve a separate path for himself and his future partner?'
Near death: The birth of Alok, seen lying in a hammock with his father, nearly killed Krishna
Raising baby: Gopal Kishan, 16, plays with his four-month-old baby Alok who's hidden inside the hammock
New struggle: During his struggle to find work Gopal Kishan, 16, drinks liquor at a roadside restaurant on the outskirts of his village near Baran
Playtime: Gopal Kishan plays with his four-month-old baby Alok outside his wife's house
Open ended future: Krishna breaks down outside after her husband came home drunk causing her to fear his behavior could harm their baby http://movetofun.blogspot.com/
0 Yorumlar