Household Expenses

Dear Friends,

This morning my mother was walking down memory lane. She had this story to tell for today, though I have heard it many times, I will record it for posterity for you all!

Her aunt's daughter-in-law was always given a fixed amount as household expenses by her husband each month. She would be very fond of deep frying papads, snacks, tiffins like puris, brewing strong South Indian coffee, etc., and her excuse for making anything special had to have a strong reason as her husband would scold her if she were to ask for more money before the month ended. She had to account for every little household expense for him. They had a large family those days with their children alone numbering about 7 or 8.

It seems she would invite some guest or the other and take that as an excuse/opportunity to make special items for them and feed the entire family to sumptious meals and tiffins. Her provisions for the month would be over within a fortnight.

She would account under the heading 'guests' to escape her husband's questioning. She must have been a very popular host serving all her guests with so much affection.

Those were the days when women stayed strictly at home to look after the family. The sole earning member would be the man. This was in the late 1930s.

Atithi Devo Bhava!

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.