She wondered how she had managed to lose herself amidst all the riches and luxury. She was bound in a walled garden, with a husband who loved her, as long as she stayed a few steps behind him in all walks of life.

The younger girls openly approve of this, while the older ones are contemplative…perhaps thinking of their own compromises and adjustments, voluntary and involuntary.

‘That’s the way women like it’, his father had told him. The first rule to find a good bride for yourself is to be well groomed, papa kept reminding him, whenever he would occasionally skip his bath or not shave.

When she reminded him that even as she studied for her boards and engineering exams, she had cooked all the meals in the morning and taken care of the house work, he exploded, calling her ungrateful and dismissive of her wifely duties.

Manju ji's heart melted at her antics. She always wanted a daughter like her but the stern mother-in-law in her prevented her from accepting Anisha as such.