Ma

“I just shrugged it off when your granny complained about her failing hip joints. But now I am starting to realise what pain she must have endured and still enduring, with only the pain getting worse everyday” my mother sighed with a distant look, her hands clutching her hips as if it would break apart any moment!

That moment ma,
staring at your distant eyes, I felt a pang of guilt for I know somehow I contributed to your pain and my face switched to dark mode.

“Well. Well. Look at you! For sure I’m going to watch you complain about your joint pains in just another ten years. Ah! this generation……….” she started.

I lit up smiling as I knew at that moment she is back to her true self –

a woman proud and tall with her hands carelessly hanging on her hips chiding her lazy kid. 

With mock anger I pulled her cheeks and while i hurried to get Jamuns hidden somewhere in the kitchen, I got my pinky toe hit with a damned wooden table and screamed like a cat.

My mother guffawed loudly saying, “I think I’m seeing a small trailer of your future young lady!”

When I wrote this very little thing in my diary, I smiled Ma but with little unease.

With each passing day, with new problem popping up like mushrooms demanding our attention, it seemed like we are drifting apart,

me with my inquisitiveness and internet and

you with your long sighs, joint pains and distant looks.

But!
Moments like this though could be mistaken for mundaneness, knock us down and make us realise, no things as puny as aging could shake the bond we share…

From reciting two tables to “just two spoons enough for this dish” 

From the purse I bought you with my piggy bank savings to half a dozen sarees I bought you with my first salary,

From tying mother’s saree around our small bodies to wearing one.

Ma, the satisfaction is completely mine and
You are strictly mine.

Let’s maintain that age old tale to taunt your little son that we got him from temple steps because I wished to pet a monkey.

How we giggle secretly at the back of my raging father, at times of his worst moods!

“Keep mum when he screams and just nod to everything he says.
Make a delicious meal with extra ghee.
He will be back to his self of sweet puppy”

You whisper with uncontrollable smile even at that turbulence,sharing your little secret with me.

For a second, I thought you are giving me a life lesson – For your peaceful and happy family, sometimes it’s okay to give up your pointless pride, balancing between self-respect and common sense.

Seriously Ma, you are simply awesome!

And Ma, I never failed to notice the love and adoration you have for Pa.

For a tiniest moment, I wondered – Will my eyes ever hold such love and reverence for a man like yours do?

…

Also Ma, you made sure your subtle lessons of discipline aren’t monotonous.

One day when I was upset over a fight with my girl gang, your motherly antennas captured the troubled signals of your daughter.

After failed sessions of coaxing and demanding,

you told me,

“Remember your first day of school? You cried so badly after I left you there that I almost came back to school to collect you. But when I came there, you were sitting right in the middle of the classroom with kids around you, some listening and some laughing hysterically. You were narrating some story to that kids with such exaggeration. The tale which I spinned  myself to make you eat spinach the previous day. I couldn’t hold back my smile.

The headmistress spotted me and said – “Thanks to your girl, she eased our trouble to manage these wailing Kids!”
So what i want to tell is that you are capable of taking care of yourself. No matter how tough the situation is, you are flexible to make an opportunity out of every problem of yours.”

While I was trying hard to remember this incident with a slight doubt whether she is spinning this tale for some reason like she did for my spinach diet years ago,she looked into my eyes and said sternly

“I somewhat know why you are upset. Don’t let some trivial things to put off your brightness!”

PS: I heard her muttering silently under her breathe “including boys.”

Well. I waited for more possible motivation (secretly for more such childhood stories of praise),she plainly said “Unless you want to go to school without lunch tomorrow, put your lunchbox now in that sink lazy!” 

What can I say, mothers come as a single package of tender and terror!

Ma, I have noticed your worry lines getting deeper everytime you hear disappointing news of spine chilling crimes against young women and small girls. I have even noticed  you shuddering mildly.

I wonder, you must have cried silently with those wailing mothers whose daughters reminded one of your own.

May be that’s why your heartbeat spiked up every single minute I delayed to get back home, to your safe embrace…

This is to all mothers,

With this wild world getting difficult each day, your little girls are also getting tougher every second.

In this patriarchal society, we may seem to carry our father’s name and later our husband’s behind our names.

But mothers,

It’s your teachings that we hold in our thoughts and deeds.

It’s your principles that we pass on to our children.

Its your legacy that we carry over to our posterity.

To all dear mothers, your proud children will always strive to make every day a very

HAPPY MOTHERS Day.