debater

As a boy witnessing a drunkard’s antics on a day-to-day basis in the street was our unfortunate lot. Every evening his drunkenness was on full display. Seldom did he go sober. His schedule during the day was idle talk, playing cards and in the evening drinking and wife-beating. The poor woman earned her living through hard labour in the fields and a bottle for her sadistic ‘husband.’ In our neighbourhood, everyone felt sorry for her yet it was commonly held that it was their family affair. Now and then, someone witnessing extreme cruelty stepped in only to hear the drunkard - even while intoxicated - that he could do anything to his wife and none have the right to question him. Normally, the kind-hearted ‘man’ - I say ‘man’ because women hardly came ‘out’ to see the spectacle - used to leave the spot knowing well further intervention would worsen the situation as drunkard’s next line of attack would be ‘what is between you and my wife?’ Wait a minute, I forgot to mention that he was ex