Sukanya

'We weren't allowed to listen to the radio at home' she said. 'My grandmother was extremely strict and my father was completely in her control. It was a sad state because my mother was a singer. Before she got married, she used to play the violin and sing beautifully. But once she moved to this house, she wasn't allowed to touch her violin, neither was she allowed to open her mouth till she was spoken to.. Though I do have vague memories  of me and my sisters staying up late at night, not falling asleep, just so that she would not stop singing us to sleep. It was beautiful. You'll also sing one day Kanna, she used to tell us.' She has a faraway look in her eyes, deep in memory and the period more than 50 years back.
'My father and my mother never had a loving relationship, because of my father's mother. She controlled the house. Years after, even though she had passed away, my father and mother still remained distant from each other, till one day my father brought a radio set home. Now all grown up, my sisters and I stared in complete wonder as they started singing together. We started singing along with them and that was the only training we ever got. Today, all 3 of us are singers. Somewhere, our mother made sure she kept her deal of making us sing.