Malar’s story is about her father-in-law, Narayan Muthu and mother in law, Lim Ah Chwa. It is story of two different worlds meeting and making a new life together in Malaysia, despite the hardships during World War II. Malar recalls the story of Narayanan being transferred from India to Malaya by the British government, and it was here that he met his wife. Back then, it was common for a traditional Indian family to arrange the wedding of their children. More often than not, they want their child to be married off into the same clan or caste as them. In Narayan’s case, his family came from a high caste, and by marrying him with another woman from the same caste, his family’s caste is maintained. They couldn’t accept that he married another woman from another race. In 1960, Narayanan decided to return to India for a brief 3 month visit. Feeling angry that they had yet to accept his marriage to Ah Chwa, he shortened his trip and made his way back to Malaysia. That trip affected him so much that he never spoke of that incident till the day he died. Sadly, Narayan’s children never had the opportunity to meet their grandparents and relatives from the paternal side. To read Malars story: cowbird/thechindiandiaries
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 08:00:59 +0000