Jokes on the mother-in-law have been part of popular lore for ever. Now, a new book follows eleven women through their marriages to explore why the husband's mother is the dreaded figure she is.
"Every bahu has a story to tell - and it's about her Mummyji," sums up the premise of Venu Venugopal's book "The Mother-in-Law" published by Penguin Books India.
From Deepa, whose bikini-wearing mother-in-law won't let her even wear jeans to Carla whose in-law insists that her son keep all his stuff in his family home although he can spend the night at his wife's, the book is replete with "incisive stories."
"In the last 20 years, there has been an utter breakdown in the Mummyji-daughter-in-law dynamic. In urban India, pretty much all daughters-in-law, across all demographics are more educated than they were 20 years ago. Mummyji, however, is struck at 'Mughal-e-Azam'" writes Venugaopal.
The author details women like Rachna who fell in love with her mother-in-law even before she met her fiance only to find both her romances sour. Then there is Lalitha who finds that despite having had a hard-nut mother-in-law herself, she is turning out to be an equally unlikeable Mummyji.
"The North Indian Mummyji is a veritable fashion police. She specifies and supervises what the daughter-in-law is allowed to wear. No skirts, no jeans, no T-shirts are pretty standard diktats. The South Indian mother-in-law is more vague, she mostly makes some generic statements about 'appropriate dressing'" says Venugopal.
The author points out that "most Indian women are now adept dressers in the car... Layer at home, de-layer in the car. Good daughter in law in a full sleeved long tunic and salwar leaves the house. Once in the car in seconds the tunic is unbuttoned to display super smooth waxed legs. The tunic and salwars are folded properly and re-worn when the car is parked at 2 am" says Venugopal.
