Love Makes the Home a Better Place

Sharda was looking for a job after completing her studies. Her parents were looking for an alliance for her. 

Although Sharda was uncomfortable with the traditions of the boy coming to ‘see’ the girl with his family, she decided to go along with it.

Her dad Thyagrajan was looking for a well-educated boy from a good family for the apple of his eye.  

He was modern in his thinking, and he sat his daughter down and asked her, “ Beti Sharda, tell me do you have any specifications? What are you looking for in the boy whom you wish to marry?” 

Sharda was a shy girl.

She hesitated to answer. But when her dad  kept insisting, she said, “Papa, I know you will only choose the best for me, I rely on you to decide for me.” Hearing his daughter’s words Thyagrajan’s heart filled with joy

He told his daughter, “Sharda, it is you who are getting married. Please feel free to tell me if there is something you want to say about this, I will be happy to consider it.”

Hesitatingly Sharda spoke up, “Dad you remember Surekha didi, how her marriage broke up because of her interfering mother-in-law? Dad will you look for a boy who stays away from his parents.  I would like to live away from my in-laws.” Thyagarajan was shocked at his daughter’s reply. He knew how much his niece Surekha suffered at the hands of her in-laws. He was quiet for a while. He contemplated speaking to her about the better part of living in joint families but knowing how scared she was by the incident, he thought it was best to keep quiet.

Soon after Sharada got a proposal, it was Suresh. 

Suresh was a young entrepreneur, working away from home, and both Sharda and her dad were keen on the proposal. The fact that he lived alone attracted them the most. They invited Suresh and his family to their house.

It was love at first sight for Sharda. Within a day after Suresh saw Sharda for the first time, his father called Sharda’s dad to say they were happy to accept Sharda into their home as their daughter-in-law. They got married and left home to their new home soon after. Sharda’s joy knew no bounds, “just me and Suresh and no one else” she thought to herself. Suresh and Sharda got on well. They had a great life together and planned to have many children.

Sharda was married for only six months when she realized that she was pregnant with her first child. Sharda and her husband  Suresh loved children and were hoping to have one of their own. The news of her pregnancy filled the household with unimaginable joy. They were going to be parents after all. Suresh took good care of his wife. She had a stress-free pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby girl, Saira.

When the baby was six months old, Sharda started feeling uneasy— she felt like a baby was moving in her womb. At first, she thought it to be her imagination. But when she kept feeling the movements, she decided to have a test done. And much to her astonishment, she was pregnant again. The ultrasound scan revealed that she was now three months pregnant with her second child. 

Sharda and Suresh were so happy to hear the good news. “They will look like twins.” Sharda gushed to Suresh. Sharda was a good mom, and she took good care of her Saira despite being pregnant for the second time. Everything went on well until the delivery of her second child. But after the delivery, Sharda found it hard to care for both the children. But she did her best. 

Late one evening, Sharda was alone at home with her two children Saira, and Suman. Her husband was working late. Saira came to her and started crying. Sharda knew that Saira had to be fed and put to bed, and she had to do it fast or else Saira would go to sleep hungry. 

She lovingly patted Saira’s head, held her close, and kept talking to her as she nursed Suman to sleep. Saira waited a while and then walked away from them. Sharda assumed that Saira would have gone to get her favorite teddy bear. But when she did not turn up for some time, it worried Sharda, and she went looking for her baby. Much to her shock, she found Saira with her thumb in her mouth, rocking herself to sleep on her rocker!

Sharda was broken.

Both the children needed her attention. But how would she manage to do it? She needs to care for the elder child, supply for her every need, and ensure that she does not neglect Saira while she attends to her newborn. Suresh was so busy with work, and he could not help.

 He came home tired and went off to sleep. Sometimes he walked in to find his beautiful wife and children fast asleep. That’s how late he came home.

But that night, Sharda waited for Suresh to come home. As he walked through the door, he saw his wife seated on the sofa in the living room waiting for him.  “Why didn’t you go to bed?” He asked. “The pandemic is keeping me busy,” he explained. His employees were sick, and he had to work to fulfil orders. He could not take time off.

Sharda ran into his arms— she was weeping. Suresh did not know what had happened. He tried to ask her, but she kept weeping for a while. Suresh held her as she cried. After some time, Sharda narrated what had just happened and how guilty she felt that Saira went off to sleep on her own. 

Suresh was an understanding man, and he listened to her quietly. He said, “ we will do something about it, don't worry. We can’t make a sudden decision. Let us think it over and decide what to do.”

The following morning, at the breakfast table, Suresh told Sharda, “let’s get a maid to help you out.” Although Sharda was not happy with the suggestion. She had no option but to agree to it. 

But will a maid be able to take care of the children as their grandparents would?

Recently a friend told me — “ I am just waiting to get back to work.” She was now working from home because of the pandemic. 

I was shocked to hear her say that and asked her, “isn’t work from home more comfortable?” She replied, “but not when you have a mother-in-law around.”

If only we could work our differences and learn to accept each other as our own, family life could be less stressful.