God's Mill

It was early summer morning, the air was laden with fragrance of flowers and birds were chirping in trees. The infamous trio was sitting side by side, in the park bench when the silence of the park was shattered by sharp voices. The three pairs of eyes met and then a universal expression of boredom crept on their faces. Their eyes said, “Here it goes again!”

Mrs. Singha broke the silence, “I should say its poetic justice!”

Mrs Mehta agreed with her aptly and added, “This is what happens to people who think money is every thing in this world.”

Mrs Jain softly added, “Bina was such a sweet girl, but they made her life miserable, they ruined it just because Jayant married her out of his own choice and without dowry. They did not had the capacity of controlling their own son, so they ruined an innocent girl’s life.”

“Her family may be poor, but its one of the most reputed families in the city, the girl was highly educated, sweet looking, and Jayant and Bina loved each other so much, before they started to poison his mind.”

Mrs. Mehta quipped, “You cant call Jayant that innocent, he never had half the personality which Bina had, he was my son’s close friend, and all he could do was whine and complain against all the miseries he had to face in life. He never made a single attempt to stand up and change things, or else his family would have been intact.”

Today’s menu of their spicy discussion was a family which resided in the same housing estate, the elder-most son of the family has married a girl from different community without a single penny of dowry. They met in college and fell in love instantly, and after both of them settled in their respective careers they decided to get married.

There was a big furor in Jayant’s home when he asked for his parent’s permission. After an open war of almost an year Bina and Jayant married without his parent’s consent. They initially took up a rented home but Jayant’s mother insisted her husband to bring them home. Bina was a little apprehensive because his parents did not allowed him to enter their home when the newly wed has gone for their blessings. Jayant begged her to give his parents a chance to rectify themselves.

Bina was received at her in-law’s home with open disrespect, his parents clearly told them that they don’t mingle with people of lower standard, as Bina was their daughter in law she was the part of their family but her family and friends were barred from visit. But it was clear to even outsiders that Bina was treated with the same respect which was dished out to household helps.

Bina worked in a good post so dowry torture or any other type of torture could not take place, but the psychological torture was enough to devastate her. All Jayant did was to beg her to adjust with them, she tried out of love and because of her family upbringing. Then slowly her self respect started to surface. She was born in a family where everyone including the household helps were treated with respect, whereas her in laws treated her like a dirt, they used to flinch away from her presence or insult her at the minimum pretext.

Slowly she started to distance herself from them, finally one day the showdown came and she asked Jayant to take his side, he whimpered that he cant walk away from his parents, so she did and never looked back.

The divorce was quick, Bina refused any alimony. Within one year Jayant remarried, this time his parents made the choice a girl from extremely rich family. And then God started to show that She maintains the records meticulously. Their new daughter in law was from a very influential family and had a fiery temper.