Mother-in-law Vs Daughter-in-law
Now a days most of the TV channels are fond of showing “Saas-Bahu (mother-in-law – daughter-in-law)” sitcoms and I am sure the noontime and the prime time slots are exclusively reserved for them and without fail episode after episode the serial continues eternally. This relationship has got mythological roots too. The famous Telugu Vaggeyakara Tallapaka Annamcharyulu also got enticed into penning one kirtana on Lakshmi and Saraswati, the consorts of Lord Vishnu and his offspring Lord Brahma respectively!
During 1960s my father got a house constructed in Chemmumia Pet, a small hamlet about 5-6 km from Cuddapah (Kadapa) town on Cuddapah – Rayachoti route. Our house was on the roadside, away from the village, very near to the railway level crossing. It is Bombay-Madras railway at that time in the jurisdiction of Southern Railway. We moved to the new house in February 1965. There was no electricity those days and we were being ducked into bed by our parents a little after 8 pm. Ours was an isolated house as the village was a little far away. Our pastime happened to be watching the trains chugging on the rails and counting the number of railway bogies of the running train. We used to walk to Sri Ramakrishna Higher Secondary School.
My father was Inspector of Schools and the elementary school in the village also was under his jurisdiction. Over a period of time the villagers became acquaintances. And slowly the lady folk also started befriending mother. One summer evening we were about to retire, when we heard a ‘thud’ outside the house. We were scared. Father opened the front door ajar and there , sitting in the veranda, was a lady crying. Mother recognized her as one of the villagers and asked her what was the reason of her crying. Between the sobs the woman blurted out her sob story. It was the usual family skirmish. The woman more often than not used to declare that she would not take this ill-treatment meted to her either by her husband or by his ‘attamma(mother-in-law)’ any further and the only resort she had was to fall under the running train and commit suicide! Our parents used to listen patiently and offer sympathies. We, the children used to get scared and used to visulaise the husbands or the attammas as the devil incarnates out to torture the innocents! After sometime, either the husband, or the children used to come and there used to be further crying and cajoling. After much persuasion, the woman used to go back home along with the people. These instances, later on, became quite common and there used to be these ‘suicide’ attempts by many a daughter-in-law and the entire situation became notoriously familiar and repetitive. Every time the story used to end peacefully.
One evening there was again this ‘thud’ and sure there was this usual sight of a wailing woman. Mother went out and started the usual sermon and discourse offering her sympathies now and then. This time the woman was adamant and firm on committing suicide! She began recounting all the ‘inhuman and barbarous’ treatment meted to her by her in-laws and how the ‘the most useless husband that ever was born’ stood and watched! She would never go back to that hell again! “That narakam (hell) up there is heaven compared to this living narakam here!” she declared. The sobbing and harangue continued. But this time even after one hour or so nobody came in search of her!
We, the children were getting ennui and were thinking that if she were really that adamant on dying, why stop at our house instead of directly heading towards the railway crossing?
Presently there was a booming voice of a virago. It was like thunder released with full blast. There was this instant silence from the wailing woman! The old lady (apparently mother-in-law), no sooner she appeared on the scene, than began hurling choicest abuses at her daughter-in-law. “If you were so particular about dying, why did you stop here? You should have gone there! ” Indicating the railway track, she caught her by the neck and began pushing. Come on, I will help you. “You people should not entertain these cowards” she advised our mother. We were all dumbstruck. Suddenly the daughter-in-law broke free of her attamma’s clutches, bolted out and ran away, not toward the railway track but toward the village!
Now a days most of the TV channels are fond of showing “Saas-Bahu (mother-in-law – daughter-in-law)” sitcoms and I am sure the noontime and the prime time slots are exclusively reserved for them and without fail episode after episode the serial continues eternally. This relationship has got mythological roots too. The famous Telugu Vaggeyakara Tallapaka Annamcharyulu also got enticed into penning one kirtana on Lakshmi and Saraswati, the consorts of Lord Vishnu and his offspring Lord Brahma respectively!
During 1960s my father got a house constructed in Chemmumia Pet, a small hamlet about 5-6 km from Cuddapah (Kadapa) town on Cuddapah – Rayachoti route. Our house was on the roadside, away from the village, very near to the railway level crossing. It is Bombay-Madras railway at that time in the jurisdiction of Southern Railway. We moved to the new house in February 1965. There was no electricity those days and we were being ducked into bed by our parents a little after 8 pm. Ours was an isolated house as the village was a little far away. Our pastime happened to be watching the trains chugging on the rails and counting the number of railway bogies of the running train. We used to walk to Sri Ramakrishna Higher Secondary School.
My father was Inspector of Schools and the elementary school in the village also was under his jurisdiction. Over a period of time the villagers became acquaintances. And slowly the lady folk also started befriending mother. One summer evening we were about to retire, when we heard a ‘thud’ outside the house. We were scared. Father opened the front door ajar and there , sitting in the veranda, was a lady crying. Mother recognized her as one of the villagers and asked her what was the reason of her crying. Between the sobs the woman blurted out her sob story. It was the usual family skirmish. The woman more often than not used to declare that she would not take this ill-treatment meted to her either by her husband or by his ‘attamma(mother-in-law)’ any further and the only resort she had was to fall under the running train and commit suicide! Our parents used to listen patiently and offer sympathies. We, the children used to get scared and used to visulaise the husbands or the attammas as the devil incarnates out to torture the innocents! After sometime, either the husband, or the children used to come and there used to be further crying and cajoling. After much persuasion, the woman used to go back home along with the people. These instances, later on, became quite common and there used to be these ‘suicide’ attempts by many a daughter-in-law and the entire situation became notoriously familiar and repetitive. Every time the story used to end peacefully.
One evening there was again this ‘thud’ and sure there was this usual sight of a wailing woman. Mother went out and started the usual sermon and discourse offering her sympathies now and then. This time the woman was adamant and firm on committing suicide! She began recounting all the ‘inhuman and barbarous’ treatment meted to her by her in-laws and how the ‘the most useless husband that ever was born’ stood and watched! She would never go back to that hell again! “That narakam (hell) up there is heaven compared to this living narakam here!” she declared. The sobbing and harangue continued. But this time even after one hour or so nobody came in search of her!
We, the children were getting ennui and were thinking that if she were really that adamant on dying, why stop at our house instead of directly heading towards the railway crossing?
Presently there was a booming voice of a virago. It was like thunder released with full blast. There was this instant silence from the wailing woman! The old lady (apparently mother-in-law), no sooner she appeared on the scene, than began hurling choicest abuses at her daughter-in-law. “If you were so particular about dying, why did you stop here? You should have gone there! ” Indicating the railway track, she caught her by the neck and began pushing. Come on, I will help you. “You people should not entertain these cowards” she advised our mother. We were all dumbstruck. Suddenly the daughter-in-law broke free of her attamma’s clutches, bolted out and ran away, not toward the railway track but toward the village!
2 comments:
ha ha .. nice post
Very simply and awesomly put... As i was reading this, i was reminded of Malgudi days.. This can definetly become like those of cuddapah days..
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