A woman has many roles to play in life — a daughter, sister, wife and mother. The most important of these roles is that of wife. Only after becoming a wife a woman becomes a mother which brings fullness to her life. Epics, Puranas and other literature extol the imporance of wife to a husband. She is a friend, philosopher and guide to him. In times of plenty all relatives and friends flock to a man like bees and ants to a ripe fruit, but at times of adversity a man will find only his wife by his side to give support, solace and encouragement. Probably because of this characteristic of a wife is she called “better half”. This book is a small attempt to express the love, affection and feelings of a husband for his wife with the objective to inspire all women to become good and virtuous wives worthy of adoration by their husbands. In Hindu thought Parvati or Uma or Sati is considered an ideal wife, who together with her consort Shiva make a perfect couple or aadarsh dampati. Another made-for-each-other couple — the Kogatas — have beautified the book with pleasing illustrations of Parvati and Shiva as the ideal couple. The delightful verses add sweetness and charm to the book.

Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Pitru devo bhava” — consider your father as a god. We owe our existence to our father and mother, and in that sense they are our creators and therefore, gods. We cannot see God, the Creator of this universe, in person and offer our respects to Him. To make matters easy for us, God created father and mother and presented them before us in flesh and blood. By serving our father and mother we can pay back at least a little portion of the debt we owe to God for our existence and for the stage we have reached in life. Our epics, Puranas, Upanishads, etc. all extol the father as of utmost importance in society. Subhashita Manjari mentions five persons who are to be treated as father — one who gives birth, one who initiates, one who teaches, one who feeds, and one who protects us from fear. Practically speaking, our biological father does all these five activities — he is the cause of our birth, he initiates us as a brahmachaari by performing the Upanayanam ceremony, he teaches us how to live in the world with honour and dignity, he feeds us, and he protects us, his children, from all kinds of fear. As such, our efforts to serve and please our father should be fivefold. Aadi Shankaraachaarya sees, in Annapurnaashtakam, Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati as father and mother. In a similar way, the Kogatas have seen Shiva as the universal father and portrays him in the book along with mother Parvati in different activities and moods in pleasing illustrations which are further beautified by sweet and delightful verses.