Dear Ma,
Well meaning friends named you a fiend. People around me called you names. T.V serials made fun of you. Newspapers drew cartoons of you. Producers of Saas-Bahu serials, with you as chief antagonizer, laughed their way to the banks.
In short, I grew up dreading you.
Why, even my Mom made me learn cooking basics before marriage, for fear of displeasing you. You, whom I had never even seen in my life. See the height of your influence over me!
Which made me wonder then, did I really need to get married?
Then he came over to 'see' me. Your son.
He came, he saw, he conquered.
Later, I noticed how simple you were. Frank, sometimes blunt, but yet without guile. Fiercely independent too.
Disciplined, frugal in your daily habits..yet generous to others with your time and money.
You saw to it that we got well settled. You insisted we live separate from you. Coming home to see you meant gorging on your delicious, hand made goodies. Afternoons were nap times. You worked..I slept.
You never gossiped, never spoke ill of me.
Yet you spoke your mind..(to me)..when I didn't do something right.
You helped pay our loan partly. You wept and prayed for our well being in the night seasons. You changed our sons' diapers. You were indulgent grand mom to both of them. You goaded them to study hard. Stashed those little white envelopes into their tiny fists after results were declared.
Now you are old, frail and weary. The roles have changed. I'm now serving you. I count it a privilege.
A huge one at that.
Well, I must confide in you today. My fears of you were unwarranted. Hidden inside your tough looking exterior, I discovered a heart of gold.
You don't resemble one bit the lady I grew up fearing.
In fact, dear lady, I don't even miss my Mom.
Thank you for being different,
your adoring daughter-in-law.
