Bowled Over By The Broken

Chapter 46: Less reasons to complain, more reasons to be grateful

19th July, 2018

New cover was made by Fida Mohammed and was one of the top 3 winners! Sorry I don't know your username, please leave an in line comment so I can dedicate a chapter to you :) The previous cover was made by @Aillurophilee :*

"... And whoever is grateful is grateful for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever denies [His favor] - then indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy."

[Qur'an]

Chapter 46:

Less reasons to complain, more reasons to be grateful

Indian Cricket team's heartthrob, Shamaaz Abdulla, who broke the hearts of many girls by getting hitched earlier this year, left for the World Cup with the rest of his teammates. And even while preparing for a game that could make or break his career, he had all of us swooning over the cute message he posted for his wife, 'Out to conquer the world, but leaving my heart here. #Bya' We must say that the love of his life, Anbaya, or Bya, as he likes to call her, is one lucky lady! #RelationshipGoals #ShaBya

"My mother in law was a witch."

Anabya paused in reading the caption of the post on her social media account, and turned to look at Tanzila, her eyes showcasing her astonishment.

"Come on, Anabya, no need to act so shocked, not all MILs can be understanding like me, you know? Come get the remote and sit beside me, Shamaaz's match will start in a few minutes."

If her eyes widened in surprised earlier, this time they resisted the urge to pop out listening to this lady's self praise. Nonetheless, she quietly came to sit adjacent to her after passing her the remote.

Tanzila flipped through channels and continued, "She'd get up every morning, wear her crisply ironed maxi in pastel shade, then she'd call for her maid to get her silver plated paan box, and while chewing the beetle leaf, she'd watch like a hawk and make sure all the chores were done. When I was newly married, I was terrified of her. Everything in the house worked according to her, if she said yes, it was a yes, if she said no, nobody could change her decision."

Anabya keenly listened to her MIL while she unraveled forgotten stories, going back in time as she tried to picture a younger, newly married Tanzila.

"Within two months of our wedding, I was telling Shamaaz's dad to take me on a honeymoon, nothing fancy like the international trips you people plan these days, we had only planned a three day holiday to the hill station nearby, but when she found out, she immediately cancelled it. She created a big scene and gave us a poor excuse that it wasn't safe for us to travel at that time of the year, and your father in law being him, even cancelled the trip. This is just one incident, if I were to recount all the moments of her torture, this evening and the entire night would be too less. You know, one day I was asked to hand over all my jewelry to her, and I gave away everything my parents' had gifted me form the money they earned putting in their sweat and blood. In fact, I was very fond of wearing accessories too but once she took them away, I never got it back. I don't know what she did with it, but all I know is that now it isn't even my age to wear all that even if I can afford it, even if I want to. She spoiled what were supposed to be some of the best parts of my life." She paused for a while before sighing as she said, "Poor lady died too soon though, may Allah forgive her."