THE HEARTFELT STORY OF SULTANA AND MOMENA

GMB Akash; a photographer and journalist, covers the beautiful story of Momena and her relationship with her daughter-in-law, Sultana.
When Momena Begum's son married Sultana, no one in the family truly appreciated her.

They considered her dark-skin and poor background a disgraceful addition to the family. Momena’s husband despised her, and situation kept getting worse for Sultana in her in-laws home. But Momena Begum, Sultana’s mother-in-law, never left her side and always supported her through thick and thin. She saw something in Sultana that was far from innocence. There was bravery and strength in her face that only Momena had noticed.

When Sultana came home, a series of misfortunate events followed. The day she arrived, a kitchen fire broke out and almost burnt Momena alive. Everyone in the family, including her husband and daughters thought that Sultana has brought bad luck to the house. Momena tried to defuse the situation and brought everybody’s attention to Sultana’s presence of mind and bravery in extinguishing the fire by throwing a bucket of sand on it. 

Momena and Sultana’s relationship grew rapidly and they became inseparable. They loved and cared for one another like no one ever did before, but their happiness was short-lived. Talks of sending Sultana back to her parent’s house had started because of the fact that even after 3 years Sultana was not able to conceive a child. Momena, however, could not let that happen. She made an excuse and took Sultana to the community clinic to get her checked and treated, and soon enough she was pregnant. A hearty baby boy was born, and both Sultana and Momena were on cloud nine.

Momena, who was a 60 year old; daily wage laborer, had been complaining of body aches because of the laborious work she does every day to support her family. Then one day Sultana surprised her mother-in-law and handed over a piece of paper to her. Not knowing how to read, she asked Sultana what it was. Sultana excitedly told her that she had found new jobs for both of them. Hesitantly she asked Sultana about the job. To her surprise, Sultana told her that her only job is to look after her grandson since Sultana got a job at a garment store. This could have possibly been the best day of Momena’s life.

Now Momena spends her days resting, and playing with her grandson, and feels like a child herself. The same Sultana that everyone considered a bad omen and a burden had been Momena’s support system since the first day, and now she is like a mother to her own mother-in-law.