“So what if you’re pregnant? All women in the world have to have children, not just you!”/hi
My daughter had only been pregnant for two months, and she hadn’t even developed a baby, but her husband’s family in Lucknow had already disowned her. She was forced to do all the cooking and laundry. Once, she was so exhausted that she lay down and tried to catch her breath, but her mother-in-law still yelled at her:
“Is this Singh family’s daughter-in-law so weak?”
It burned inside me to hear my daughter crying and calling out in the middle of the night. I told my parents in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. They sat in silence, then the next morning, without a word, drove to my in-laws’ house in their old jeep.
When they arrived at the Singh family’s house, they quietly opened the trunk, took out a plate of chicken pulao and a boiled egg, and placed it neatly by the door. I asked, confused:
“Why did you bring only this?”
My mother said softly:
“That’s enough now. Leave it here, we’ll see later.”
Three days later, the entire attitude of my daughter-in-law’s family changed. The usually stern mother-in-law suddenly became kind and began preparing turmeric milk and herbal medicines. The father-in-law kept reminding his daughter-in-law to rest, while the always critical brother-in-law now ran to get her kheer (milk tea). The entire family seemed transformed.
I was both happy and curious, when suddenly I heard my daughter-in-law’s relatives whispering, and I was shocked to learn the reason:
Previously, my daughter-in-law’s mother-in-law had been “predicted” by a village astrologer that if someone arrived at the doorstep with chicken pulao and boiled eggs at the exact moment when someone in the family was pregnant, they should take good care of that person. Otherwise, misfortune would befall the family, their children would fail, and their wealth would be lost.
It so happened that my parents remembered that old story from when they lived in the same village, so they quietly gave the right “signal” and forced the Singh family to immediately change their attitude.
Part 2: Curse or Truth?
After the day a plate of chicken pulao and boiled eggs was placed at the gate, the entire Singh family seemed to change. The mother-in-law, Mrs. Kamala, forced her daughter-in-law to drink almond milk every day, and wherever she went, she would tell her:
“Shalini, you should rest. Let the family members take care of the household chores. You should take full care of your pregnancy.”
The father-in-law, Mr. Rajendra, constantly pressured his son to take his wife to the gynecologist and buy more supplements. Even the sister-in-law, who was usually short-tempered, now started grumbling and bringing sweets like jalebi or rasmalai for her.
My daughter, Shalini, was initially emotional, thinking that her husband’s family had truly changed. She called me crying:
“Mom, now they love me, maybe I’ll live a peaceful life…”
I listened to her, relieved. But my husband, Arjun, sternly said:
“Don’t believe it. People change because they’re afraid of past ‘prophecies,’ not necessarily because of true love.”
A Hint of Doubt
Sure enough, a few weeks later, I heard neighbors in Lucknow whispering:
“Kamala is very scared. When she was young, she let her pregnant sister-in-law suffer, and then the baby was born weak. Ever since then, she’s believed the story of ‘chicken pulao and boiled eggs’ to be a good omen. Now, when she saw prasad arriving at her door, she was terrified and didn’t dare to be careless.”
I was shaken. So, was all her worry just out of fear?
The quarrel began
One evening, when Shalini was sick and couldn’t eat, Kamala became angry:
“Why is Singh Bahu so indifferent? The doctor told her to eat, but if she doesn’t, the baby will be born weak. Will this family be disgraced?”
Shalini choked up:
“Mom, I didn’t mean it that way. I really feel like vomiting…”
The atmosphere was heavy. That scream pierced my daughter’s heart like a knife, revealing that the tenderness she had shown was just a thin veneer.
The Curse’s Unexpected End
However, just when it seemed like everything was about to fall apart, a strange incident occurred. Mr. Rajendra had gone to work and nearly got into a road accident. He narrowly escaped, and when he returned home, he recounted the story in a trembling voice:
“Perhaps it was the blessings of Shalini and her unborn child that saved him…”
That sentence came as a shock. From that day on, Mrs. Kamala was no longer indifferent, but treated her daughter-in-law wholeheartedly. She sat next to Shalini, cooking traditional Indian dishes suitable for pregnant women, and often whispered:
“Mom was wrong. I will take care of you like my own daughter…”
Shalini sobbed, holding her mother-in-law’s hand.
After all, the “curse” was just a pretext, but that near-fatal incident made the Singh family realize: love, not fear, binds a family.
