Unbelievable scenes in court

It was a planned visit to the family court on the Madras high court premises. A friend of outs was seeking divorce and she wanted somebody with her for moral support. We readily consented. Spending a Monday morning in court is not exactly the best of starts for the week. But we hadn’t bargained for what we saw. The court was jam-packed with lawyers and petitioners and in the corridors you had to jostle to find your way. There were all kinds of scenes. For example, as a woman screamed and pushed her two children toward her husband, asking him to take care of them, and rushed away, another woman wailed miserably. It was clear that all is not well with Indian marriages. Family disputes are on the rise and with nuclear families being the norm and the joint family system almost extinct, God alone knows how healthy the state of Indian marriages are. In the chaotically busy room, it was not hard to imagine why courts in India are overloaded with pending cases. Our friend managed to complete her business and was mighty relieved to come out into the sunshine. However, the story did not end there. Two hours later, she called to say she that had lost her gold chain. She had travelled to the court and back in an autorickshaw and she was convinced that somebody had cleverly snatched her chain on the court premises.