Nita was recently married and started living with her husband and in-laws. After a few days, she started to realize that she was not able to get along with her mother-in-law. Nita’s mother-in-law was conservative whereas Nita was liberal, living a modern lifestyle. Soon their differences of opinion and lifestyles became too much and they started fighting. As days and months passed, neither of them changed their behavior. It just got worse.
Nita became very aggressive over time and started to hate her mother-in-law. She started to think about how to get rid of her. The last straw was recently when she argued with her mother-in-law, her husband took his mother’s side. Nita became very angry and left, heading to her father’s home. Nita’s father was a chemist and she told him about everything that’s been happening. Then she pleaded with her father to give her poison so she can get rid of her mother-in-law or else she won’t go back to her husband’s home.
Nita’s father told her, “ It is not the right thing to do, and we will both end up in jail.” But, Nita was in no mood to listen and understand. Finally, her father gave in. He told her, “Ok, as you wish but do as I tell you”. Nita agreed. Her father gave her a powder and told her, “Every day when you make lunch or dinner, just mix a little pinch of this powder in your mother-in-law’s meal, since the dosage is small, she will die slowly, over a few months. People will think she passed away naturally”.
He also told her, “We don’t want anyone to become suspicious so from today on, you will not fight at all with your mother in law but instead you will be very caring towards her, even if she says something which you don’t like, you will not be rude, you will simply be polite.” Nita agreed thinking she will be free from her mother-in-law’s quarreling in a few months. She went back to her in-laws and as advised by her father, she started mixing the powder in her mother-in-law’s meals and behaved very caring and polite to her mother-in-law.
As time started to pass, Nita’s mother-in-law’s nature also started to change. Because Nita was being very caring towards her, she too started to be affectionate towards Nita. Five months passed and Nita had been mixing the powder but the atmosphere within the house was changing. There were no quarrels, both were praising each other when talking to neighbors. They became very attached to each other like a mother and daughter. Now, Nita started to worry, thinking that the powder would soon kill her mother-in-law.
She ran to her father’s home and told him, “Dad! Please give me the antidote for that poisonous powder you gave me! I don’t want to lose my mother-in-law. She is just like my mom and I love her very much”. Her father smiled and said, “What poison? I had simply given you a sweetener!”
Moral: Each person has a different view of the world, depending on their circumstances . This can often lead to anger and verbal abuse. However, we must try to understand each other and find a way to get along. And, when such differences arise between people, it is the duty of their loved ones to keep them calm and guide them in the right direction.