Pearls from Mom

I was talking to Mom in the evening. We talked a lot as she kept on suggesting some of the books that she was reading. I felt good talking to her. Generally, if a phone call seems to be going beyond ten minutes, I try and switch to earphones to avoid any future problems to my precious eardrums. But, today I even forgot that. In fact, this is one of the few calls I attended in a week. I feel like a newly charged battery. Mom has that effect on me.

Mom has been a great support for me all these years. She is probably one of those few who figured out the fact that my brain was wired in a different way. She gave me courage by saying that all those things that people generally run after do not really mean much and I could always be different. She very easily relented to my little crazy wishes; expensive color paste tubes, brushes etc. She even got me clay for I thought I could do a bit of clay modeling. One monsoon, all the clay got drenched in water and became a thick huge boulder which had to be broken into pieces by some workers before mercilessly deposited in a corner of our property. I joined for learning Mridangam, a percussion instrument, with her full support even though I stopped practicing it after learning it for 14 years. I still have one at home, neatly packed but untouched for years. She is just always there for all the things I think of doing and will even support me.

Well… That’s my Mom and Me.
January 1987.

I never thanked for all the things she did for me. Especially, when I was written off as a totally gone case by experienced teachers saying that nothing enters my brain normally and I have problem concentrating. Mom made me understand things in a simplified and interesting manner and in a matter of a few months taught me an years’ syllabus of almost all subjects. She gave me guts… to speak openly, to ignore things I don’t like and also that a bit of pride is not all that bad. Tonight, when I think of it, I am here and doing things that I do now, only because of my guts and Mom is the reason for that.

I loved what she told me today. That is what I wanted to write. We were discussing about a film about abuse against women. She was disturbed after watching it. She told me that the term ‘mother’ is universal. It has the same amount of appeal in every culture… that ‘motherhood’ is something respected and is a source of learning as children learns from their mothers first. Her point is that every woman is divine in that sense and should be respected. I couldn’t disagree. I rarely disagree with her (except when she brings up the subject of girlfriends).

She always wants to know how many girlfriends I intend to have. I told her that I’m presently having only one and I read somewhere that having more than one woman in your life can be quite complicated. She seems to have understood the point that I am treating the woman in my life well. I’m glad that I gave her the ssurance that her son is not a woman abuser and playboy-scholar.

But, you know what? She got me thinking about this ‘motherhood’ thing and its universal appeal and the cultural implications. It’s really something and I want to know more about it…

 

 

 

 

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