Mr. Rajiv was now over 60. His back had begun to stoop, and silver strands of hair dotted his head. He had spent a lifetime working as a manual laborer at construction sites in the outskirts of Lucknow, saving every rupee he could to support his only daughter, Anaya, through her education. When she finally graduated from accounting college, Rajiv breathed a sigh of relief. “Now my daughter has a future,” he thought.

Then Anaya met Rohan, a quiet IT employee from her company. During the first meeting, Rohan bowed respectfully to Mr. and Mrs. Rajiv and promised to love Anaya forever. Their wedding was simple, held at the village Shiva temple, and afterward, Anaya moved with Rohan to Delhi.

When Rajiv visited them in the city and saw the cramped rented room they were living in at Ghaziabad, he discussed with his wife the possibility of selling the last piece of land they owned back in the village—a small vegetable plot Rajiv had farmed for years. They handed ₹1.2 lakh (roughly $1,500 USD) to Rohan as a down payment for a small apartment in the city.

– “It’s not much, but we only want you two to live in peace and have a stable life,” Rajiv said.

Rohan gratefully accepted the money with repeated thanks. Two years later, Anaya gave birth to a baby boy, Aarav. Mr. and Mrs. Rajiv moved to Delhi to help care for their grandson. Every morning, Rajiv rode his old bicycle to take the boy to preschool while his wife cooked, cleaned, and did laundry at home. Around this time, Rohan was promoted to IT department head, with his salary doubling. Everyone praised him as a rising star.

But ever since the promotion, Rohan’s demeanor began to change. After work, he was glued to his phone. His face would tense with annoyance whenever he saw the in-laws displaying rural-style foods—sun-dried mango slices, fried dried fish, or chutneys—around the kitchen.

One evening, as Anaya was making tea, Rohan spoke bluntly:

– “I think… your parents should return to the village. The house is too small, and when my colleagues come over and see them… it’s embarrassing. It makes me look backward.”

Anaya froze, the teacup trembling in her hand:

– “But… they sold their land to help us buy this apartment…”

Rohan dismissed her instantly:

– “I borrowed that money to help with the mortgage. I bought the place in my name. I’m a department head now—I can’t afford to lose face. Your parents are just… in the way.”

From the corner of the kitchen, Mr. Rajiv had heard every word. His hands trembled slightly, and his wife silently wiped away her tears. The next day, the elderly couple packed their bags, kissed their grandson one last time, and quietly left. Anaya watched them go, her heart breaking, but she didn’t dare speak up against her husband.

A week later…

Rohan rushed home from work, his face pale. He had just been reprimanded and temporarily suspended from his position. A critical system failure under his watch had cost the company hundreds of thousands of rupees. And the person brought in to act as a consultant and salvage the project was…

Engineer Rajiv Sharma – a retired IT expert invited back to handle the emergency.

Rohan was speechless when he entered the boardroom and saw Mr. Rajiv sitting at the head of the table. Dressed in a crisp white shirt, hair silver but back straight and gaze calm, Mr. Rajiv looked every inch the professional. The director introduced him:

– “This is Professor Rajiv Sharma, a respected IT consultant and former senior instructor at IIT Kanpur. He will oversee this project moving forward.”

Rohan couldn’t raise his head. Mr. Rajiv looked at him for a long moment before speaking in a steady, composed tone:

– “In both work and life, integrity and gratitude matter most.”

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Rajiv packed up his documents and headed out. As he passed Rohan, he stopped and said one final sentence:

– “A home without in-laws may still function, but a man without a sense of humanity… will never stand tall.”

That very day, Rohan walked out of the company holding his letter of resignation. He had lost his title, his honor—and most painfully, the trust and love of the very people who once treated him like a son.

Moral of the Story:
A humble father, once seen as a burden, ultimately proves his worth not through revenge—but through dignity, wisdom, and integrity. Meanwhile, the son-in-law, blinded by status and ego, loses everything because he forgets what truly matters: respect, gratitude, and the duty of being human.