On a crisp spring afternoon, Phuphee and I were sitting on the verandah chatting after our lunch. She had rustled up a simple dish of pootche gande ti thool (spring onions and eggs) and served it with hot rice and roahane koadur aanchaar (a pickle made from the tender green stems of young garlic).She was telling me the recipe for pootche gande when the gate opened and a large party of people walked in. Before they reached the verandah, she called for Aisha, the household help, to bring the samovar, chinipyaale (small cups without handles) and some kulchas.The party was headed by an elderly gentleman who looked annoyed and angry. Before he even sat down and caught his breath, he started narrating his tale of woe. ‘Kyahaz dapai hamsheera, maehaz chu sitam. Yemyis nechtvyis karyov khaandar badyeav armaanoav magar nazar laejj kamyistaansinz.’ (What can I tell you, my sister. I am facing such hardship. We got this son of ours married with so many hopes and dreams, but I don’t know who has given us the evil eye.)He sat before Phuphee beating his chest with his hands. It startled me a little, but Phuphee didn’t so much as flinch. She watched him calmly and, after he had tired a little, he sat back and pretended to cry.Phuphee asked him to speak plainly about why he had come. He stopped his non-crying and wiped his non-existent tears with the sleeve of his pheran. He proceeded to tell her about the young woman who was standing at the back. She was his daughter-in-law and he was sure that either someone had given the entire family the evil eye or she had been possessed by a jinn, for she behaved most abominably towards him.‘How so?’ Phuphee asked.‘Yihaz chenna myesyith kathai karaan.Amyis chu shayad praah gomut (She isn’t speaking to me at all. I think she has been possessed),’ he replied, looking at the young woman crossly.Phuphee sat watching them for a few moments and then asked the daughter-in-law and her husband to come forward. ‘Is this true?’ she asked them.They nodded silently.Phuphee looked at the young woman and told her to speak openly.‘He speaks to me unkindly, often treating me as an outsider. He hurls abuses at my parents and other family members. If anything goes wrong in our home, he puts the blame at my feet. He seems to feel that it is acceptable for him to treat me this way because I am his daughter-in-law. There was nothing else I could do to hold him accountable, so I simply stopped speaking to him,’ the young woman explained calmly.