May You Live In Interesting Times!!

Two recent MILs were sitting on a bench in a park and chatting.

MIL1: Times are getting worse. I never thought I would see such days. The other day, my son called me and told me he got married and is bringing his bride home. I was shell-shocked. With a lot of running around, I prepared to welcome my new DIL at home, consoling myself that if not the wedding, at least I get this ritual done for my DIL.

The bell rang. I opened the door and my son was there with his bride. I looked at the bride from head to toe. The clothes were different, with no Mehndi in hand and no jewelry. “Is this my DIL?” I asked myself and then consoled myself, “The times are changing. At least the bride is not of a different culture.”

With a heavy heart, I stretched myself to apply kumkum and rice on the bride’s forehead and performed an aarti of the DIL. The bride walked into the house and pushed the Kalasha (copper pot) filled with rice, signifying that the bride will bring in wealth and prosperity to the house. I had then to run back to the kitchen to get a bigger thali (dish) as the bride’s feet were larger than I anticipated. I filled it with a paste of kumkum and water and made the bride step into it before entering the house, chanting the rhymes at the same time and asking God for help.

At that time, my mind couldn’t even imagine of the problems that ensued. My DIL doesn’t wear decent clothes in the house, never cooks or cleans or does laundry, wakes up late, goes to gym daily – what do I say? Whom do I say? When our own child does this to us, whom can we blame?

MIL2: Yes. You are right. I am going through the same situation. One day, my daughter informed me that she loves someone. Both my husband and I were against the marriage. How will we face the society? We tried to persuade her but she didn’t listen. Finally, we got her married in court. My dreams of a big wedding were dashed. The only saving grace is that my SIL (Son-In-Law) is traditional in nature and on top of working, does the dishes, cooking, cleaning, laundry and all that much better than my own daughter. At the marriage, as part of the ritual, I had to pick the nose and in doing so I had to be careful as the nose had a piercing. My nieces wanted to hide the sandals of the SIL but they even didn’t get a chance to do so. What can we do? Whom do we blame? Just as the purported Chinese say, “May you live in interesting times!!”

MIL1: What's the name of your SIL?
MIL2: Priya. What's the name of your DIL?
MIL1: Rohan.