As soon as I opened the door my father threw acid on my face. Hi, I am Khushboo Sharma, I work at Sheros Hangout Cafe in Agra. I am the elder child of my family and we belong to a small town in Aligarh. My family is very conservative and they got me married at the age of 15, I also have one daughter. Problems in our family started when my father got married to two other ladies after my mom. He would spend all the money and savings for his fun without even thinking twice about me or my siblings. I used to take stand for my mother and my siblings till I got married and after my marriage things got even worse when he wanted to get married for the fourth time and this was a very disturbing news for our family and before we could talk to him about his decision he told us that is going to sell our home. Our financial status was already low there was no source of income, I would help them as much as I could so I told my father that please don’t sell this home, where would my mother and siblings go this is the only place for them, we all begged in front of him but he told me that this is my home and I will do whatever I want to and since I was taking my families side he warned me to stop or else he will punish me. I then filed a complaint against him so that he could not sell my family’s only shelter. I took an action and my father got mad at me. He came to my house in the middle of the night and as soon as I opened the door he threw acid on my face, my husband and my kid also got burnt while saving me. I felt my face was on fire and there was unbearable pain. Doctors in Aligarh were not able to treat me and I was sent to Agra. My life changed in a moment and it was difficult to get over but thanks to Chhanv foundation that I got my life back and a creative work to do at this cafe. It is like our home and we love it. There is a menu but no price list you can pay as you wish. I just wish that this never happens to anyone again.
