Mother's Day

 

mother

/ˈmʌðə/

noun

noun: mother; plural noun: mothers

 a woman in relation to her child or children.

 

Dictionaries describe a mother as a woman in relation to her child or children, but in reality, a mother is so much more than just the woman who gave birth to us. She is the one who has been taking care of us from the moment we were born, feeds us, nurtures us, listens to our rants, teaches us new things, scolds us for our mistakes and at the same time, loves us unconditionally. She is a superwoman. But often, this superwoman is underestimated and not given enough credit for her work. We see her taking care of everybody’s demands, but have we ever wondered who tends to her needs? Such a woman surely deserves a day for her recognition.

 

People often don’t give credit to mothers. Either they know what she does, but fail to recognise the effort it takes, or some thick headed people dismiss it saying that it is her job, it's what she is supposed to do. I too was one of the former – always taking my mother lightly. I knew that being her required a lot of hard work and patience, but I didn’t realise the extent of it until she went out of station for a few days. It was just me and my father for the next few days. The house started feeling empty the second she left. I did have my father, but mother will be mother, not even a thousand souls can fill her void. There was nobody to wake me up like how she does, nobody to scold me for creating a mess, nobody to cook me food like hers and these are just few of the things that happened. I realised how much I neglected my chores until she wasn’t there to do them. I started missing all her quirks, like playing 60’s Hindi music while doing her chores, her need to clean every surface from time to time, giving me reminders for every class (even though I have stuck a timetable on my cupboard), watching daily soaps with her, enacting movie dialogues with her - and this is not even a fraction of the things that I do with her.

 

The first time I tried cooking (all by myself, no parental guidance), the skillet slid off the stove and I burnt a finger. The kitchen looked like it was straight from a dystopian or post-apocalyptic movie and I ended up with a pile of dirty utensils and a dish that was burnt from the outside and uncooked from the inside. After my dad and I cleaned it up, I immediately called up my mother and said, “You are a superwoman! I don’t understand how you wake up, cook tasty, edible food three times a day, clean the house AND do your office work. And what is even beyond my understanding is that how you wake up and do this EVERY SINGLE DAY! To this, she just shrugged and replied that eventually you will get the hang of it and it will start seeming less like a chore. After she came back, I gave her a big bone crushing hug and started helping her out more in her work.  

 

For the irreplaceable woman who does all this, we can do nothing but shower her with all the love and care in the world (and some household help) to repay what she did and continues to do for us. A hats-off to all the mothers in the world and a very very very HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!

Signing off,

Yours truly,

Akshata😉