Sunday Story- PRIDE SANS PREJUDICE

It was only a quarter past five in the morning but the entire Mishra household was already up and bustling. Mrs Sumitra Mishra was all over the place, instructing the domestic help to ensure that everything was perfect and in order, while she herself was occupied with preparing for her daughter-in-law’s favourite delicacies. One might wonder what all this flurry was about and they are right in wondering so; what they don’t know is that the heroine of the Mishra household was coming home after almost a year.

Akrity had been a highly ambitious woman since childhood. She had always known in her mind that she wanted to do something, something meaningful with her life. One day, when working on a college project, she came across an article on the life of an IAS officer. And that was it—one article was what it took for her to make up her mind to become an IAS officer. And now, she had finally fulfilled her dream.

Akrity had been fortunate enough to find a husband and in-laws who whole-heartedly supported her ambition. Notwithstanding society’s incessant efforts to pull her down on account of her becoming more successful than her husband and earning more than him, they encouraged her to not pay heed to society and keep striving for her goal. And she eventually succeeded.

It had now been over five years since Akrity had taken charge as a district magistrate. But since she had been posted in a different state than where her family resided, she had to live on her own and could only visit them on leaves. And this was one of such times. Everybody was excited because this was the longest she had been away and at the same time it was going to be her longest stay in a while.

Among everyone, Akrity’s husband and her mother-in-law were her biggest supporters and cheerleaders. They always praised her in front of the rest of their extended family, friends, acquaintances, and almost everybody else. Even today, her mother-in-law gleefully shared the news with anybody and everybody who came to their house that her daughter-in-law was coming home; for her, Akrity was the daughter she never had.

The doorbell rang at half past one—everybody knew that Akrity was home. The moment her foot crossed the sill of the door, Mrs. Mishra embraced her daughter-in-law into her arms and kissed her forehead. It was only her son reminded that they were still at the door did she let go of Akrity and let her actually enter the house. After her mother-in-law, it was her husband’s turn to greet her, whom she had missed the most. The two embraced each other like a couple who had met after being separated from one another by forces against their union (for a moment they had forgotten that they weren’t the only two persons in the room).

Once the greetings were officially over, and everybody had finally settled down, Akrity finally managed to steal a few moments for herself. She went to her room, changed her clothes, and lay down for a while before rejoining the rest of the party waiting for her outside. All this while, she felt grateful for having married into a family that had supported her throughout and rejoiced in her unconventional success and her being the head of the house.