The Story of a Mom-in-law and Ghee

Shruti’s mother-in-law (MIL) suffers from a phobia that her son is not being well fed by Shruti. This anxiety is shared by majority of Indian Moms especially the Bengali and Punjabi variety. If a Punjabi or Bengali boy eats even one roti less than the usual quota the mom behaves as if there is some medical emergency. Each time Shruti’s MIL comes to visit her, the first thing she says to her son is “roga haye gechis kato” (you have become so thin…emphasising on the word thin). And immediately jumps on a mission to rescue her son from obvious undernourishment and thus enters the kitchen in warlike precision and starts rolling out parothas, fish curries, mutton, mixed vegetable chochhori and desserts. MIL is convinced that the malnourishment index in DIL’s house is lesser than Somalia and therefore her job is similar to World Bank or Red Cross in the African country. Like them she also enters armed with relief materials which fill up her XL Samsonite suitcase.

MIL also suffers from a strange fear that in metro cities all food materials are adulterated so she finds it safer to carry everything from home, and doesn’t mind carrying the extra baggage despite her arthritis. Her Samsonite suitcase can give Pandora’s Box a run for its money. This particular baggage contains everything from chola shaak, ajwain, mauri, brinjal, cauliflower, potoler loti, kolaiyer daal, gandhoraaj lebu, jaggery, matar daal, country eggs, narkel er poor, patisapta, naru, chaski pitha…etc etc etc. Although the right to this stuff is strictly reserved for her beloved son nevertheless it is enough to feed the whole of Africa.

The MIL is happy to cook endless dishes for the hungry son. She also sends the maids on leave as they are mere disturbances in this noble mission. Her forty something son is slowly reduced to an infant under her care and affection. With each morsel of food that she serves her son becomes “gadogado(mushy)” the scene has the potential to beat any saas bahu serial’s TRP. She feeds and keeps telling “kha” “kha” (eat) with such desperation as if he is eating after coming back from Kargil and will have to leave for Afghanistan soon after finishing. After each bite hubby dear keeps praising Mummyji and every time he praises some more food finds way to his plate. To all Indian men the Mom is the best cook, so no argument in this respect “she was, she is and she will be” the best cook even if she had cooked nothing more than maggi in her entire life. Shruti is a smart girl she never tries to compete. MIL looks at her with sympathy as if Shruti has some learning disability in the field of cooking.

It was a happy happy situation, Mummyji was happy cooking, betaji was happy eating and Shruti was happy not cooking. That is precisely when disaster struck, MIL realised that she has forgotten her bottle of ghee behind. Where would she get pure ghee in this adulterated city of thugs? She was desperate blaming herself for this undesired amnesia when Shruti came to her rescue. Shruti offered her a bottle of homemade ghee. MIL was unable to comprehend which one was the bigger shock…her forgetting the ghee bottle…or the fact that her DIL can prepare something as difficult as ghee. She was always happy thinking that she was the better cook but this ghee from DIL’s kitchen shattered her world. One item that MIL could never manage to prepare has been mastered by the DIL was a shock big enough to give her a cerebral stroke. Shruti was enjoying her MIL’s desperation but then she felt pity for the old lady and promised her to teach this and also assured that MIL would certainly make it far better than her.

Linking this post to #FlavoursomeTuesdays hosted by Shilpa.

Long back I used to run a weekly post called Tasty Tuesday for my blog Wanderful, where I used to write a fiction/anecdote that revolved around food. I also used to share the recipe. The above story was first published in November 2014. Here I am not posting the recipe. If you wish to know the recipe you can visit my earlier post for the same.

33 thoughts on “The Story of a Mom-in-law and Ghee”

  2. Pingback: In memory of my mom-in-law. #FlavoursomeTuesdays – Metanoia
    • Balaka says:
      Reply

      Thank you Shalz.. Most Indians moms are so over protective of their sons that they often forget the boundaries..It is not always humorous for the DIL, I hope MILs learn a lesson from this apparently “funny” post..

      Liked by 1 person

  5. bbryanthomas says:
    Reply

    Loved your tale. My mother was like your MIl. Took a long time (if she ever truthfully did) to accept my brother’s wife could make a better Yorkshire Pudding.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Balaka says:
      Reply

      Ha ha ha… Most mother’s are not ready to accept that their DILs can be better…thank you so much for reading and commenting. I really enjoyed your honest comment.

      Like

    • Balaka says:
      Reply

      Even I do not want to feel that way… I do not want to be an insecure MIL.. but it is too early to predict….you never know how things take a turn…thanks Zainab for this beautiful comment.

      Like

    • Balaka says:
      Reply

      You never know what would you actually do when the day comes…human emotions are complicated… We mother’s are so much involved in the life of our children that it is often difficult to let go… We always want to be the centre of their worlds and that is what creates the problem.. Thanks Alana for reading and also this beautiful comment.

      Like

  10. BellyBytes says:
    Reply

    Oh what a lovely story Balaka. And all mothers in law feel that their DILs are lousy cooks. Luckily/unluckily my MIL walked out of the kit he never to step in once I came through the door . I realise this is the smartest thing to do … unfortunately I have no one to take over the tava from me but I do feel a smart DIL will hand over the Belan to a visiting MIL and enjoy the respite from the daily drudgery of cooking.
    And now when I travel abroad , I understand why old ladies carried their kitchen with them

    Liked by 1 person

    • Balaka says:
      Reply

      There are two types of MILs. The first type stops cooking the moment DIL steps in the house and the second type are those who think that the only way to keep control is through controlling the kitchen…i feel both these are extreme types… A smart MIL would keep a balance and would not kill the DIL with overwork and let her also have a role in the kitchen…

      Like

  11. Moon says:
    Reply

    Such a great, full -of – humour post, Balaka. Loved the analogies especially the Kargil and Afghanistan one🙂 What is it with these moms and their inflated and rigid calculation of their son’s eating capacity?! Leave them alone! 😀😀
    Very well done!

    Liked by 1 person

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