When I got married to IS he had already lost both his parents. His father passed on while he was still in school and his mother while he was in college. He was the only child. By 20 he was a one-man family. On the other hand I came from a reasonably large family, not joint as such but a family which was constantly in touch with other relatives and met frequently for festivities and summer holidays.
Our married life began pretty much on our own … I mean without in-laws. Some say I was lucky as I did not have any saas-bahu jhanjats. I could not understand this at all as I had not experienced any such thing or for that matter never will. I did enjoy the independence but I know I missed having a relationship with IS’s mother.
It so happened that IS’s mothers ring (my wedding band now), her bangles fit me exactly. Her blouses fit me perfectly and of course I inherited her wonderful collection of hand-woven sarees, some hand-picked (or even specially ordered I heard) by her dear husband. I wore each and every one of her sarees. She had classic taste and her simplicity was her style statement, I could tell from these beautiful things and the pictures I saw of her. I could have instantly connected with her, without having met her I think we would have got along very well. She was an artist and did Chinese style paintings which I will share with you some day.
When I saw pictures of IS's parents I wished I had the opportunity to meet them. The stories I heard from close friends of his parents made me feel I had missed out on knowing two wonderful dynamic personalities. They say she was a very strong person in a difficult time, taught herself a lot, and by her example many younger family-members learnt to work on their own self-improvement.
Today is my mother in-law’s Barsi (death anniversary) and I would love to share some of her pictures. I don’t think she could have created any ”saas bahu” problems for me. I somehow feel she’s watching over me and IS, and that we are blessed.
