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Listen to the podcast on Inkandescent Radio Leaving — How to set yourself free from an abusive marriage

April 21, 2023: This week on Margaritas with Marguerita, you'll meet Kanchan Bhasker, author of "Leaving." You'll learn that the woman raised by two loving parents in New Delhi, India, was taught that marriage means companionship, tenderness, and mutual respect. When she finds her arranged marriage tied her to man who was narcissistic, alcoholic, and violent, she had to make a choice. Don't miss this episode!

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Money + Divorce: “Sometimes finances aren’t the big favor,” says “Leaving” author Kanchan Bhaskar, who shares how she set herself free from an abusive marriage

April 21, 2023: A Note from Marguerita Cheng, CFP® ProWhen it comes to divorce, author Kanchan Bhaskar knows finances aren’t the only factor in making the decision to leave. As you’ll learn in this interview on Margaritas with Marguerita, she was raised by two loving parents in New Delhi, India, and was taught that marriage means companionship, tenderness, and mutual respect. So when she enters into an arranged marriage, this is the kind of partnership she anticipates with her new, seemingly wonderful, husband. But after they marry, she quickly discovers that his warmth is deceptive—that the man beneath the bright, charming façade is actually a narcissistic, alcoholic, and violent man. We know you won’t want to miss her story.

Meet our guest: Author Kanchan Bhaskar

Today’s Topic: Leaving — How to set yourself free from an abusive marriage

Rita asks Kanchan: 

  • Tell us about your heroic story of leaving your abusive marriage.
  • What kept you from leaving sooner? And why is this often the worst question someone can ask a woman struggling with this decision?
  • What is your advice to other women in this situation?
  • What can others do to support a woman coping with abuse?
  • You got divorced 20 years ago. What have you been doing these last two decades? And what are your plans for the future?
  • How can people connect with you to discuss this topic with their friends and have you speak at their events?

About our guest: “I was trapped in a nightmare,” explains Kanchan Bhaskar, who pleads with her husband to seek help for his issues, but he refuses. Meanwhile, Indian law is not on her side, and as the years pass, she finds herself with three children to protect—three children she fears she will lose custody of if she leaves. Almost overnight, she finds herself transformed into a tigress who will do whatever it takes to protect her cubs, and she becomes determined to free them from their toxic father. But it’s not until many years later, when the family of five moves from India to the United States, that Kanchan is presented with a real opportunity to leave him—and she takes it.

Chronicling Kanchan’s gradual climb out of the abyss, little by little, day by day, Leaving is the empowering story of how—buoyed by her deep faith in a higher power and single-minded in her determination to protect her children best—she fought relentlessly to build a ramp toward freedom from her abuser. In this memoir, Kanchan clearly lays out the tools and methods she utilized in her pursuit of liberation—and reveals how belief in self and the Universe can be not only weapons of escape but also beautiful foundations for a triumphant, purpose-driven life.

Learn more: kanchanbhaskar.com

Learn more about our host at MargueritaCheng.com • Don’t miss a single podcast: MargueritaChengRadio.com• Watch all of our TV episodesMargueritaCheng.tv! Cheers!