This happened at Vembanad Lake in Kerala. Maya was born to a fisherman named Eswaran and a wonderful lady known as Saraswathi. The night when Maya was born is considered lucky for Eswaran because he had caught the biggest catch in his life. So, he named her as Mayamma because she brought magic into their lives.

As Maya grew up, Eswaran used to bring his catch and command Saraswathi to go and sell his catch in the fish market. Saraswathi, being the doting wife obeyed him. He in turn, used to get drunk and beat Saraswathi every night for no reason. Saraswathi used to bawl her eyes out. Maya watched this silently from a distance.

Maya always believed that she wears saree to be her true Indian self. She always be able to carry herself from a cotton saree to a gorgeous kerala saree.

However, Maya’s parents thought she is ready to get married. But, she said “Not yet, Not yet!” To be truthfully, she was in love with a guy from Bengaluru. His name is Anand. They had met at a resort where she was performing and he was the guest. Their courtship went for a months together. Anand finally convinced her that she should be independent and get married to him.

Maya brought this up to her parents. And, they were shocked and felt that this relationship is not suitable. This made Maya furious. Eswaran got drunk and came back home. He started physically abusing Saraswathi more till she was black and blue. Maya couldn’t take it anymore. She ran out of the house and broke the thenga kola (The coconut branch) from coconut tree. Took thenga kola and started beating her very own father. Maya broke his leg and he passed out.

After Saraswathi saw this, she convinced Maya to leave the home and go to Anand. With a few thousand rupees in her hand, she makes a trip to Bengaluru. Maya reaches Bengaluru to find Anand sleeping around with different women. She beats him up and start breaking stuff in his place. He calms her down and apologizes to her stating that he will be monogamous to her and wasn’t aware that she would make it to bglr soon. She reconciled with him and started making appams for Anand.

Since then, Mayamma vowed to help anyone in distress or facing any abuse. We all deserve a better life. Don’t we?