The day was that of celebrations and joy. It was the day that the Kaur family learnt that their youngest daughter-in-law Harpreet was going to be a mother.

The family was your typical Indian joint household with four sons each married and working in well paid jobs and their wives well-educated, young women.

Along with the news some younger ones broke into a spontaneous jig, but all at once the festivity stopped as the would-be father screamed out:?I want a boy.? The sentence was received with screams of laughter as the father sat down face red with embarrassment.

His mother, the matriarch, who had taken the charge as the family?s head after her husband?s demise and was well-known Rajinder, the local agony aunt, who with a note of affection said: ?As god wishes.?

Inder Singh was a well-built man who served in the Indian Army.

Soon afterwards, on the seventh month of his wife?s pregnancy he got a call letter from the Indian Army calling him back to the frontiers.

As he was preparing to leave, Harpreet gave him a parting message: ?Jaldi aana? she said with a rush of emotions.

Two months passed by after Inder?s departure and Harpreet was soon bearing the contractions of her womb at a nearby hospital.

She was rushed to the hospital and after some time the nurse broke in the news to the family members: ?It?s a girl!?

Shortly Harpreet was discharged from the hospital and she was seated in her bedroom and was humming words from a popular lullaby.

As these lines came into the second daughter-in-law, Rajvir?s ears, she came in to the room and looked at the two of them, smiling.

?Have you informed Inder about this? He so wished to have a boy,? she asked hesitantly.

?But god had already made plans for his family. I hope this child of ours will follow her father?s footsteps and be as brave as him,? her sister-in-law assured her.

Harpreet was not convinced but she was far too happy with the arrival of the child to fret over the problem. After all a healthy child is all that parents hope for. She went out and sat on the porch where her mother-in-law was seated. ?Is she asleep?? ?Yes, she?s too feisty for my good,? exclaimed a happy mother.

?Come take your seat here,? the matriarch welcomed her. ?Ma, did he write to you about me? Harpreet queried.

?Yes, he did. He wrote that he was happy that god had sent her to him, beta. Listen to me beta...A child is the best gift that god can offer us. Inder has no reason to complain. I am sure he knows how happy you are. I want you to be sure that you have made him equally happy,? she answered earnestly.

Time passed on. The baby was three-months-old when Harpreet was sitting on a jhoola in the verandah looking outside into the street.

In the dust of the road she saw the silhouette of the village postman walk up with his bag strung across his shoulder. She also noticed that he was coming towards their house holding an envelope.

?What have you brought today? Is it good news or great news chacha?? She greeted him as he climbed up the stairs.

?I don?t know what they are. But it must be the papers concerning Inder?s pension...?

She burst out: ?Inder?s pension? What do you mean??

?Don?t you know? Oh my god! You don?t know. Beta it?s nothing, you know only that my fogged head does not work well. I have no idea what I say half-of-the-times. The other day your chachi was saying...? He trailed of trying to cover up.

But Harpreet persisted and old chacha was no match for her.

Soon she heard the terrible news. ?My own hands delivered that letter beta. I am sorry! I am so sorry, I thought that they had told you by now, I am so sorry....? the poor man was incoherent with grief and by guilt when he thought of the shock that he had inflicted on the young widow.

But the young mother was too angry and shocked to have noticed anything.

She stood like a rock till a scream that she had stifled burst out. The family rushed out into the verandah hearing the inarticulate cries of Harpreet.

The presence of the postman chacha and the sight of a rocking Harpreet brought tears to everybody?s eyes.

Rajinder with quivering lips came and stood beside Harpreet, almost like a guilt-stricken person.

?Why didn?t you tell me, Ma??

?We couldn?t break such a heartless news to you. I am mother, too. Just 15 days before the baby...! We couldn?t tell you. And you were so keen and eager about the event beta. Forgive us won?t you? We loved you too much to reveal the truth. Forgive us, won?t you??

Harpreet spoke little. She stood there looking at the family, her family, and felt a sense of inner peace and security that she had never felt before.

She saw in the apprehensive eyes of her in-laws an unconditional love, and knew that she belonged to this family, with or without the presence of her husband. She knew for the first time what having a family really meant.

After a period of eight to nine months Inder?s last rites were performed and just two weeks after that a larger ceremony to greet the child was to take place.

The priest came from the Gurudwara and Inder?s daughter was named Maninder.

Lights were glowing all around the mansion but these were not so powerful as the light glowing in Harpreet?s heart, as she held his child, Inder?s child.

After the ceremonies were all over and the guests took their leave she sat with Maninder on her lap and started a simple love song which she came across in a book. ?Se-ma-te-re-hay i-ru, se-ma-te re-hoy-i-va.? (Beautiful man to be sure, beautiful man to be sure) and tears trickled down her cheeks.