Their marriage had been the subject of numerous phone conversations between my parents, grandparents, and me for the past year. The conversations always ended with someone warning me against a love marriage. It was because of how Anand’s secret marriage had broken everyone’s heart that I decided to tell my family before doing the deed, though it was very tempting to take the easy way out and tell them after the fact.

My grandparents and most of my family members did not have high hopes for Anand’s marriage and they all were convinced that Neelima was not the right woman for him. They also believed that Neelima was actually a witch who had brewed a nasty potion to ensnare their poor little innocent son into her web.

“She is fair-skinned… but…”-Ammamma shrugged and tied the edge of her sari around her potbelly-“not like our Lata.” She smiled at her daughter-in-law, who returned the smile.

Something was going on, I noted suspiciously. Lata and Ammamma had never really gotten along. Ammamma and Thatha had expected Jayant to follow the archaic joint family system and live with them after his marriage.

It didn’t work out that way.

Six months after the wedding, Lata didn’t say anything to anyone, just packed her bags and Jayant’s, found a flat, and left. The family went into total cerebral shock. Thatha argued, begged, and pleaded for her to come back, but Lata stood her ground. She told him she was tired of living with people to whom she was merely a cook and a maid. (Who could really blame her for that?) She also said that she wanted her own home, where she was the mistress. Jayant quietly followed his wife and broke my grandparents’ hearts. But now Ammamma was being nice to the traitorous daughter-in-law. It was more than enough to bring out the Sherlock Holmes in me.