Translated from the Original Hindi by
Kanwar Dinesh Singh

It had been two weeks since Lata came as a bride to this house. She was very beautiful, but her decency and soft-spoken nature won everyone’s heart. After the formalities of rituals, now Lata was slowly putting her stuff on the shelves. Her mother-in-law, Meera, was helping Lata fully adapt to the environs of this house. Both had to take special care that no one should cross the circle of each other.

After two weeks, Meera noticed that Lata had arranged her clothes and shoes all smoothly, but a small packet wrapped in brown paper was left near her empty suitcases, lying open in the room below. For a few days, Meera thought there was something not very important in the packet; she wouldn’t open it.

But when she did not open it for a long time, Meera eagerly asked Lata,
“Daughter, what is there in this packet? You forgot to open it. It has been here for a long time.”

Lata said hesitantly, “Mother, there is a picture of my mother and father in it. I don’t know where to put it.”

Meera affectionately said to her, “Oh, open it. Let’s see, how does the picture
look?” Lata pulled the picture out of the brown wrapper and, staring at it with fondness, handed it over to her mother-in-law.

Meera said, “Oh, such a beautiful picture; show it! Where to put it? Hey, their place is here! And without losing any time, she placed that picture on the corner table of the drawing-room. Thirty-five years ago, Meera thought the same for herself, but she could not do it.”

Now on that table, along with a picture of Meera and her husband, a picture of Lata’s parents was also displayed.

-0-Kanwar Dinesh Singh
Poet, Storyteller, Critic and Translator (English/Hindi)
Associate Professor of English & Editor: Hyphen
Email: kanwardineshsingh@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 94186 26090