The light shines from within

Nothing can dim the light which shines from within..

The faith and deep affection he had for his mother, the lessons in concentration, ethics, discipline and dedication he had learned at her insistence now stood him in good stead.

Her story, she had once narrated to him, enfolds as below.

She had faced a crushing Life, raising her nine siblings.

Her father who toiled in the landlords farm from dawn to night on a meager pittance had died of a snake bite even as her mother was expecting the tenth child.She had been only thirteen and still a child when the burden of the entire family descended on her frail shoulders.

The small hovel at the edge of the vast estate the landlord he worked for was their only home.
She had to now care for the whole family, the owner agreed to let her family stay on if she would work in the main house as a maid, cook, cleaner, gardener, care taker, nursemaid..in short she did everything silently and without any fuss.

So she was awake by 4 AM morning at her hovel, caring for her mother and siblings, sending the older ones to the nearby Municipal School.
 All  the work at home had to be done so she could scramble over to the main house where her never ending chores began by 6 AM.
Sweeping the entrance,  drawing the design with rice powder, she then cooked, filled buckets of water drawn from the well.
Quickly bathing herself before the household woke she then entered the Kitchen where she did housework till mid afternoon. Grinding the batter for the daily crepes(dosas), rice steamed salted cupcakes(idlis) or other snacks, she was on call till the large household had breakfast.
She cooked huge quantities of lentils, rice, spicy dishes according to the menu decided by the Lady of the house.
Her smiling face, quick and efficient work was noticed by the Old Lady, The Matriach of the household who insisted she have a substantial breakfast so she could go about her housework.

Her mother came over later to help with laundry, cleaning the huge acres of land, watering the gardens, weeding, planting,shopping for grocery.
This gave her some free time in the afternoon when she attended school so she could continue her education, as the Old Lady insisted upon it.

Her slender lovely looks and graceful beauty soon attracted the attention of the Landlord, now a widower. 

The father of three children, his wife had died at the birth of the third child who was older than her. 
He forced himself on her when he wanted. She had to stay on at the household at his insistence so he could have her when he had the urge. She was fortunate that he was diabetic so could not use her sexually but he made her wait on him and had other cravings she had to satisfy.

She bore all this stoically so her own family could grow and flourish. 
Her siblings grew up and moved on in life.
As each one graduated and accepted a job, she helped them get married and start a family.
They soon moved out to carve out their own destiny.

Her Mother passed in her sleep one day as she never woke up.

Looking back on her Life as she visited a place of worship with the Old Lady of the Household, she prayed silently and bit back tears. Quietly she willed her tears to stop as she packed for the trip back to the household.

"I will ask him to marry you so the family house will be yours some day, the children are grown up and have no need of the ancestral  property as they have settled abroad". The Old Lady gently informed her.
True to her word the small ceremony to legalize the wedding was conducted that week.

She was now the wife of the Landlord.

Her marital status was short lived.
He passed within a month as the injured toe turned septic due to his diabetic condition and did not heal.

His children did not even come for the funeral.

She continued to live in the huge house and took over the duties of managing the vast acres, farmlands, and estates they owned.
She enrolled in an online course, got her degree in Agriculture .
Her focus and hands on approach, generous and helpful attitude helped her understand that new methods had to be incorporated to manage and produce better crops and output.

The next few years flew by as she tenderly cared for the Old Lady who she had come to love.

The terse letter arrived one day from her only step daughter.

She would give birth to a child out of wedlock but was not expected to survive as she had AIDS.
The child would be sent to her with the adoption papers when she was no more and this was her dying wish and request .

So at the age of thirty eight she was a mother of her step daughters son.

Seeing the tiny tot who had been flown in from the US after his birth, she took in the hapless child of her only daughter by marriage, raised him on her own as she accepted the dying apology of her wayward step daughter.
She never questioned his parentage but took him into her heart to raise him with all her maternal love and wisdom.

 Widowed early in life, the second wife to an elderly man whose step daughter resented her and caused only heart ache, she now had to nurture a new life barely a few hours old.

He could only remember her love of Life.
The vast fields where he ran barefoot, played with the children of those who labored in the fields made him love the land and the life.

She got back her will to live as The Old Lady who was in her  late eighties seemed to be overjoyed at the turn of events.