美国国家公共电台 NPR When India's Interfaith Couples Encounter Threats, 'Love Commandos' Come To Their Aid

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now we have a story of what can go wrong when you fall in love. In India, parents have a big say in who their kids marry. When a child's heart tugs¹ them another way, particularly towards someone of a different caste or a different religion, it can lead to violence. NPR's Lauren Frayer has this story of one couple who had to escape.

SAUMIL SHAH: See, we actually met at the working place. And then we started meeting each other. And then we fell in love with each other.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE²: Saumil Shah says it was at an electronics store where they both worked three years ago that he first laid eyes on the woman who would become his wife. Saumil was just back from doing an MBA in England. Zarina had earned a computer science degree. They flirted³ at work. Zarina is shy and soft-spoken, but she says she knew right away.

ZARINA SHAH: I feel good with him. I'm very happy with him.

FRAYER: And the future?

Z. SHAH: Very bright.

FRAYER: Saumil and Zarina just got married, but there was no big wedding. They eloped far from home? And they didn't tell their families. They couldn't. Zarina's family is Muslim, and Saumil's is Jain, one of India's smaller faiths. This marriage was forbidden by both families.

S. SHAH: Her parents didn't agree with this, and the same with my parents just because of the religion.

FRAYER: They pleaded with their parents. They're 31 and 26. They're not teenagers. They're educated. They thought this through. But when Zarina's family arranged a marriage for her to a Muslim man instead, she and Saumil decided⁴ to escape.

S. SHAH: Her brother is working at the airport. So we had to decide a day where her brother has off. And we had to run away in the night, about 2:30, I guess.

FRAYER: Were you scared?

S. SHAH: We were actually scared, yes, because anyone could catch us.

FRAYER: They both still lived at home. Zarina's parents were suspicious. She pretended to be asleep when they peeked⁵ into her room at 2 a.m. Then Saumil pulled up in a taxi outside. It was now or never, Zarina recalls.

Z. SHAH: (Through interpreter) My parents are nice people, but I wanted to marry for love. They were forcing me to marry someone else. It would have ruined his life and mine. But I still love my parents.

FRAYER: She doesn't know if she'll ever see them again. Zarina tiptoed out of the house she grew up in. She scaled the locked gate out front, tossed out her phone and escaped with her beloved to a city neither had ever visited, the Indian capital, New Delhi. And that's where I met them - in a safe house run by a group that calls itself the Love Commandos. It helps interfaith and intercaste couples elope and hide from their families. They've got 500 shelters across India.

SANJOY SACHDEV: Here we have a metal detector⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF BEEP)

FRAYER: Checking to see if I've come in with weapons.

SACHDEV: Yeah.

FRAYER: The Love Commandos founder⁷, Sanjoy Sachdev, scans me for weapons. He made me promise not to reveal exactly where we are. He says he gets threatening phone calls every day from the parents of those he helps - love couples, he calls.

SACHDEV: Now, these parents watch movies full of love stories. When a love couple is separated, they feel sad. But when their daughter is in love, they beat and even kill.

FRAYER: In the southern city of Hyderabad, police say a father recently hired a hitman to hack⁸ to death his son-in-law in the street, his pregnant wife beside him. Theirs had been an intercaste marriage. India only started keeping track of such killings⁹ in 2014. The most recent statistics show 71 such murders in India per year. But activists¹⁰ say there are thousands of mysterious accidents. And for every young lover killed, there are dozens who face harassment¹¹ by their families. Women often get it worse, Sachdev says.

SACHDEV: Females are more beaten. Their education is stopped. Their employment is stopped. Their movement is stopped. Their phones are snatched. They are forced to marry anybody else. And then they have to escape.

FRAYER: For the past six weeks, Saumil and Zarina have been staying night and day in a windowless room with three other couples in their same situation. The Love Commandos help them arrange religious conversions¹², weddings, restraining orders and airline tickets to start a new life far away. It's like the Witness Protection Program for newlyweds. But it's not the only option for couples in this predicament. In southern India, they're using technology. There's a smartphone app called Kadhal Aran, which means protecting love in the local Tamil language. Vasumathi Vasanthi designed this app, which aims to help couples who want to marry outside of Hinduism's often rigid¹³ caste system.

VASUMATHI VASANTHI: Whenever people need any help, they want to go to the police station, but they have the fear to go to police station. They can just download the app, and that's it. We will be there to help you.

FRAYER: The app pings a network of volunteers who connect the couple with lawyers, police or counselors¹⁴. Technology is also how some of these couples meet in the first place. In the old days, Indians didn't socialize much outside their faith or caste. Now there's social media.

RANU KULSHRESTHA: I think the numbers are increasing now.

ASIF IQBAL: The exposure to phone and...

KULSHRESTHA: I think they're studying together.

IQBAL: Studying together.

KULSHRESTHA: I think more girls are going for higher education.

FRAYER: Ranu Kulshrestha and her husband, Asif Iqbal, are an interfaith couple who run a support group for people like them. It's called Dhanak, rainbow in Hindi.

KULSHRESTHA: We get, on an average, 50 SOS calls for help within a day.

FRAYER: In fact, when I arrived at their office, Iqbal was on the phone with a client who's threatening suicide. They counsel couples on what happens after they escape, after the wedding, when happily ever after means reconciling their differences.

KULSHRESTHA: You discuss things like, what will be the religion of the children? Sustaining the marriage - even when they find difficulty in getting a house.

FRAYER: Lots of landlords in India will not rent to interfaith or intercaste couples. Weeks after I met Saumil and Zarina in the Love Commandos safe house, I got a text from Saumil. They're out. They've moved to Mumbai and managed to rent an apartment, their first home together alone. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Delhi.

1 tugs   

n.猛拉( tug的名词复数 )；猛拖；拖船v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The raucous sirens of the tugs came in from the river. 河上传来拖轮发出的沙哑的汽笛声。 来自辞典例句
• As I near the North Tower, the wind tugs at my role. 当我接近北塔的时候，风牵动着我的平衡杆。 来自辞典例句

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 flirted   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She flirted her fan. 她急速挥动着扇子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• During his four months in Egypt he flirted with religious emotions. 在埃及逗留的这四个月期间，他又玩弄起宗教情绪来了。 来自辞典例句

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 peeked   

v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• She peeked over the top of her menu. 她从菜单上往外偷看。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On two occasions she had peeked at him through a crack in the wall. 她曾两次透过墙缝窥视他。 来自辞典例句

6 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

9 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

12 conversions   

变换( conversion的名词复数 )； （宗教、信仰等）彻底改变； （尤指为居住而）改建的房屋； 橄榄球（触地得分后再把球射中球门的）附加得分

参考例句：

• He kicked a penalty goal and two conversions, ie in Rugby football. 他一次罚球得分，两次触地后射门得分（在橄榄球赛中）。
• Few of the intermediates or enzymes involved in these conversions have been isolated from higher plants. 在这些转变中包含的少数中间产物或酶已经从高等植物中分离出来。

13 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

14 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册