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Many Odds

Watching Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway was heartbreaking. But the movie tells only half her story. She says the rest in her own words: 

“The story of the movie ends with me winning my children’s custody. People leave theatre halls thinking my triumph makes me live a comfortable life after that. Far from it. My struggle over the last decade has been at times tougher than the times I spent in Norway. Amid all that I achieved, I took care of my ailing parents and my children, especially my son who has a mental condition and would have to remain on meds all his life. But I was determined to win that battle and this is where I have now reached, I think I have been a good mother to my children even though I have stayed away from them for the last two years,”

The fight this mother put up for her children is absolutely heroic. Given the odds against her, it is nothing short of a miracle that she prevailed. I recall reading about this in the news a few years ago and but the details were scarce. Reading the Telegraph article and also while watching Rani Mukherjee play Mrs. Chatterjee, I could not help thinking about the wasted potential. This woman is an absolute powerhouse - she has the courage to take on the world. 

Such a shame that all the potential was wasted fighting to keep a family in a terrible marriage to a man who was unfit both as a father and a husband - the root cause of many of her troubles in Norway. Imagine, she was given the chances to thrive and be her own person - the could have changed the world against all odds just like she saved her children.

No words for the connivance and racism of the Norwegian authorities - dumbfounding stuff.

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