MOTHER(S)-IN-LAW

How they brought joy that Diwali.

- Rupal Chhaya

Sameera nodded her head in agreement. "Okay ma, I will do as you say." She smiled through her tears which she was trying to hide from her mother-in-law who was on a video call with her. Jyoti, the MIL, too had tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat as she ended the call abruptly to hide her grief from Sameera.

"Don't worry about me, mummy, I have talked to Ronak. I will leave for my mom's house with Anuj bhaiya who will be here to pick me up anytime tomorrow and will return only after bhaiyadooj when Ronak comes to bring me back." Sameera's international call with Samata, her mother in-law, ended after a brief conversation about the wedding they were attending in the US.

Jyoti and Samata - ma and mummy to Sameera - were both her MILS. Sameera was engaged to Jyoti's son Nakul. They were to be married soon after Diwali. He had gone pick up Sameera for a Diwali puja at his house but had neither reached her place, nor his own. A phone call had ended it all. The truck driver fled while Nakul bled, to an untimely death.

It took a few years for both the families to accept what had happened. Kapil and Surabhi, Sameera's parents, failed to bring their daughter out of the shock. It was Nakul's dad Abhay who jolted Jyoti back to reality. "We are not going to be around always. We have lost someone precious, but so has Sameera. She has lost her entire future. We cannot allow her to mourn Nakul forever. It is high time you pull yourself together and gradually persuade Sameera to move on with her life." Jyoti had really worked hard to bring Sameera back to normal, almost normal...it had taken a long time, but eventually had succeeded in convincing Sameera to get married. When Sameera met Ronak and his family through her distant cousin, she had no reason to turn down the alliance and they were married soon thereafter.