Looking up from the rice she was cooking, she replied to her three-year-old granddaughter, who was screaming in the hallway, “What happened? I am coming.” Giving the vegetables a quick stir and the potato wedges from the pan a hurried flip, she rushed to her grandchildren. “Maaa” came another of Saili’s high-pitched screams.
“What is it?” Meera exclaimed. “Look, Ma Ram has clasped my hair and is refusing to let go. It is hurting me, she replied, shrieking”.
Quite rightly, she saw her grandson just a couple if months into his second year holding her hair in a tight fist in his left hand while he chewed the index finger of the right one between his toothless, itchy gums. He laughed out loud after every scream that Saili let out. He was thoroughly enjoying the show while sitting in his baby walker.
Holding his soft hand gently, Meera said. “Leave her hair, dear one.” And carefully opened his fist. She then smoothened Saili’s hair and lovingly caressed both her grandchildren. Both fell in her arms, hugging her tightly. This was her heaven. There is no greater peace than in the arms of my grandchildren, she thought.
Later in the evening, it was time for Meera’s daughter-in-law to get home. She had bathed and cleaned the children and now put a pot of tea on the gas stove. As her daughter-in-law’s car appeared in the driveway the children rushed to her.
Meera watched with a smile as the children both latched themselves to her on each of her arms. She looked at them and smiled. After the intense exchange of kisses, chatter, and complaints, the children ran to play, leaving Meera with Siya.
“Come have a cup of tea,” Meera said as she laid out a cup for Siya along with cookies. She herself preferred a tall glass. The sweetness of black tea and her lunch of dal and rice was all she desired from her content life.
“How was your day, Ma?” Siya asked, sipping the tea.
“I hope the children did not trouble you much today,” she said as she took a bite of the cookie.
“No dear, they are such a delight to have. They fill my day with purpose. Without them, I would be lost.”
“You know Ma, I am grateful for what you do for me,” Siya said.
“It is just because of your unwavering support for me that I can have a career.”
“Oh, it is nothing,” replied Meera with a brush of her hand.
Fanning herself with the edge of the pallu of her saree she said, “You are an educated girl; you should not let your education go to waste. Use it to upgrade your skills and excel. I will manage the home and kids.”
“These words are exactly what every mother in law should say to her daughter-in-law,” Siya said, holding Meera’s hand in gratitude.
As she spoke, Meera’s mind drifted to the time when she had first entered this home as a new bride.
She said to Siya,
“You know, when I married your father-in-law and came to this house, all the women were confined to their homes. We did love to huddle together and share stories and gossip as we went about our work but some part of us always itched to be something more. But those times were different. We had a lot to do and many hardships to face.”
“You see the well at the end of the road? We had to draw water from there and fill the multiple pots, large and small, back home.
In the evenings, we used to tend to the fields and collect firewood on our way back. Those days, cattle were an asset. The more, the better. Taking them for grazing, milking them, and cleaning their sheds were also necessary tasks that kept us occupied.
Unlike today, mixers had not made an appearance in our lives, and neither had gas stoves. Grindstones and choolhas were what got us through. We washed clothes on the now abandoned large piece of cemented rock in the backyard that used to be our washboard. Hence, as women of that era, we were fully occupied and doing laborious and time-consuming tasks.”
“However,” she said, looking at Siya,
“Today the world has changed. Technology has brought us the gas stove, the mixer, the washing machine, and most importantly, we have a 24-hour water supply right inside our homes. With so much luxury and sophistication, why would I want you to be stuck within the four walls of the house when you could be building Frontiers outside?”
“And most importantly, I did not wish to carry forward the chain of dependence of women. I had vowed to myself. My daughter or daughter-in-law should never be confined to the shadows but be pillars of support to the family and society. They should not be a mere existence in the dark that is not acknowledged. Even though I may not be as educated as you are, I do understand that change begins with me. Even though I and countless women before me have never been in a position of power in the family situation, I understand that I do not need to do the same to you. I believe that the chain needed to be broken somewhere. And this is me breaking the chain of centuries of dependence and oppression; I believe empowerment begins through me.”
The Momma Clan 
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