Recession exacts toll on IT marriages

The fall from grace couldn’t be pictured in sharper contrast. It was barely over a year ago that these guys — only in their early 20s but with fat pay packets — were on top of the world, and certainly way up on matchmakers’ lists. Cut to the present and the gloom of recession. The scenario is one of considerably reduced salaries and even job losses. Gone is the springy, globe-trotting stride and the swollen-headedness that comes from making good too quickly and too easily. And prominence has in some cases been exchanged for notoriety. Of late, the majority of complaints relating to marital discord pouring into police stations happen to involve the information technology community. Hyderabad, next only to Bangalore among the country’s leading IT hubs, has thousands of “associates” as they are called — who once walked tall but now are shuffling about dispiritedly on drastically reduced pay or are even without jobs. The misery doesn’t end here — they have to contend with loans contracted at a time when the future seemed in their pockets. But the worst part in many cases is strained relations with spouses. Says M Kistaiah, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), CCS: “Every day, we receive as many as 20 complaints from quarrelling couples, with IT pairs accounting for nearly 15 of these.” For instance — Sujatha (name changed) who works at a well-known IT company in Madhapur — complained that her husband, who lost his job at another outfit, was not spending time with her anymore. Even though she had comforted her husband and urged him to take things in the stride and hope for the best, there was a marked change in his behaviour. He began to find fault with her for trivial things like being held up at the office, and began to curb her freedom in many ways like preventing her from going to the movies with friends on weekends, she said in her complaint. More distressing is the case of one Anuradha (name changed) who said her husband was using her credit cards to hit the bars. And he returns home drunk and beats her up at night. The police intend to counsel the couple but the husband is currently out of town. Over the last six months, complaints have been piling up at the CCS. “This year, at least 300 complaints have been lodged by IT wives after marital discord following either or both of them losing their jobs,” says Kistaiah. “Whenever we receive such complaints, we counsel them and register a case only if they insist,” he said. By Mouli Mareedu