Together for 76 years

   My mother-in law and father-in-law        
        

 Today is a special day for our family as my in laws are celebrating their 76th wedding anniversary.  Today, both of them will be entering the 77th year of togetherness. From this day, the entire year is ahead for us to celebrate their diamond jubilee. One can call it platinum jubilee too. It is not important to just name it as diamond or platinum. The life they have lived together is very important for us because there is much to learn from them. For this very reason, I had dedicated my book - “veetu saapadu" to them.
My father-in law is 98 years old and my mother-in-law is 92 years old. They got married in 1940. My father-in-law lost his father, when he was barely 5 years old. His father was a gold medallist from the Gundiy college of Engineering -Madras (now Anna University). He built the Yakara Bridge in plaghat (Kerala). It still stands there strong. We remember him every time we pass through that bridge. My father-in-law was brought up by his father's brother, who was a great doctor (known as Dr Vaidyanath Iyer) in Trichur. However, my father-in law was destined for a job in railways, which forced him to travel all over India. My father-in law’s pillar of support was his mother who lost her husband at the age of twenty two. However, she passed away at the ripe age of 78.
I  must say that my father-in-law is patience personified. This quality makes him close to everybody. He knows many things about the pre-independence period. In fact, he is a store house of information, like our history books. I came to know more about my grandfather (my dad's dad,-the first Indian to get F R A S) from him.
My mother-in-law is also a store house of information. She can speak at length  about the entire family she knew for four generations with ease. In fact, her memory is so sharp that she can recollect her days as small child even today. More important is that she always carries a smile with her. This is infectious and makes her dear to everybody.

                    My brother-in-law with his wife

 Interestingly, today is also the wedding day of my brother-in-law (my husband's elder brother and my in-laws first son). Today, they will be celebrating their 33nd wedding anniversary along with my in-laws. just the way they were celebrating all their wedding anniversaries for the last 32 years.  My brother-in-law and my co-sister are happy go lucky types, which makes them special.
I wish both the couples keep celebrating their wedding days together like this for many more years.