I am obviously not a Nigerian but the human interest stories you tell on your site made me want to share something that happened to me.
Well, not to me directly, but to someone in my family.
I have a brother who is in a dilemma of sorts and here is what happened.
When he turned 27, he got married to a 19-year-old girl from another province; they were a young happy couple but you see, we are dark skinned, we are not rich and in India, if you are not educated well enough, it is harder. Yes, the caste system.
Ok, I can continue my story? Yes?
Oh yes. So, they were married, in a small place and were trying to make ends meet like any young couple in the world.
But they had troubles too, like many, many young couples, nothing different. Then the wife, she got pregnant, too early. She got pregnant and I think the pregnancy was a big problem because she couldn’t handle herself properly. It made her a bitter woman, I think. So, her mother came to help them settle and live like a good couple.
Oh, in India it is common for young couples to live with their parents. Yes. It is.
Her mother was a senior woman who was once married herself, but is a widow now. She was once married and had children so she knew how to handle these things.
But she was handling something else; she was handling my brother. She and my brother, they were getting involved in bad things. She is the mother of my brother’s wife but she became involved with him, they said they are in love!
Before we knew it, brother had moved out with his mother in-law to live together. Is this even real? Yes it is.
It is strange, no? It is.
A few months now and what we hear is that brother is not liking his mother-in-law anymore. The love is gone. He says he wants to go back to live with his wife.
So, tell me what happened here?
I don’t know.
I know brother is back to his senses and he is back to his wife.
That is my story. A very strange story, no?
Yes.
Mother- in- law is ashamed of herself now. Brother and wife and getting back together again. All ends well.
Thank you.
(Series written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories)