They Called Her Fruitless

After years of being judged and silenced for not having children, a young Kashmiri woman rebuilt herself through work, nature, and courage to reclaim her story.

- Gowher Bhat

Ruksana left her marital home before sunrise, carrying a small bag and five years of pain.

There was neither argument nor shouting, and no dramatic farewell.

She walked away because her life had become too hard to bear. And infertility was only part of it.

The constant blame, endless work, and judgment from others made every day unbearable.

She comes from Vailoo, Kokernag, where orchards and paddy fields stretch toward the horizon, and tradition shapes every step of a woman’s life.

She married at thirty-two, believing that love and patience would create a strong foundation. She expected motherhood to arrive naturally.

It did not.

The first year passed with gentle advice. “People told me to wait,” she remembered.

By the second year, questions emerged. And by the third, judgment had hardened.

Hospital visits, blood tests, scans, and consultations followed.

Doctors explained that infertility can affect men and women equally, sometimes both, but at home, only one person carried the blame.

“In that house,” Ruksana said, “I was the problem.”

Her name faded under labels: useless, fruitless.

Words that once shocked became routine, spoken during meals or whispered just loudly enough to cut.

Relatives arrived and asked, “Five years and still nothing?”

Each question weighed like a trial. Infertility became a reflection of her value as a woman rather than a medical condition.