At one point, she confesses to her mother that the beatings are no longer physical, they have started affecting her mentally as well, and she wants to break free of this cycle of abuse.

They had a verbal spat, and then Madhu sat down and thought and realized what the main issue was. Rohan usually had a habit of listening yes from her. The moment she disagreed with him, he got angry.

Sudha called the boys to help her set the table. This was another thing her mother in law didn’t like. Why did she make both boys help out in the kitchen?

When I started earning, I maintained a recurring deposit in the name of travel budget, which I do to this date. It was through this that I sent my mother her first air tickets.

How many of us are happy with our mother-in-law/daughter-in-law? Leave alone the fact that we can never see them as our own mother or daughter, the least —  are we able to accept them as one in our family?