It was a proper eye contact in the sweltering, blistering summer of 1988.

Mita had accompanied her Uncle and his family to Delhi. Uncle’s daughter was Mita’s batch mate as well and both girls were close friends. On the way back to Lucknow, they halted for a night in Sitapur, in the sprawling haveli (house) of a close relative. As they entered the grand, spacious drawing room, Mita felt irresistibly drawn to the photograph of a married Indian lady. The lady in the photograph, resplendent in a red saree with a big red bindi, had a face bright and clear as daylight, with eyes that sparkled with joy!

“Was she a relative? It couldn’t be, for her photograph was on a special platform like the ones for Gods and Goddesses in many Hindu homes in India,” thought Mita to herself. Too shy in a new environment, she gathered just enough courage to ask her friend, Ela (her uncle’s daughter) about the lady in the photograph. Ela said, “She’s Maasi’s guru,” referring to her aunt.

That was all Mita could learn. She resolved to know the mystery of the mysterious, motherly lady in the photograph one day.