To My Mother, My Hero

I wonder how life must have been for her after having spent all these giant years- good, bad, harsh or happy- all submerged and unfolded into one inspiring and beautiful life, the sum of a woman’s dedication, her struggle and persistence. The one I adore most, the one I love from the deepest core of my soul-my mother and my idol of love. I count on her experiences, her visions and it’s only her who has always helped me through rain and sunshine of my life. Always caring and supporting, she taught me to persist, to fight back the challenges and never give up. In the times of despair and delusion, she would be the light, the ray of hope and guide me through the right path. She would be my companion, my best friend to celebrate when I’m happy. However little my achievements were, her bosom would swell with proud and she would boast as if they always belonged to her. I can’t explain, I can’t write within the limitations of mere words, of mere thoughts what she has been, and what she is for me.

She always wanted to pursue higher study, but got married before she could finish although she was excellent at study. Working as a school teacher, a housewife and a mother of three was certainly not an easy job in those old days. Balancing all these was a mighty challenge but she wasn’t deterred. Never tiring in her efforts, she determined to do her Bachelors’ after raising us all. And she did it. Luckily, my grandmother and father both supported her immensely without whom it would have been never possible for her. She filled my life with purpose, protected me from my fears, my frustrations and nurtured me to grow positively. She would tolerate all my idiosyncrasies, my obsessions and support my ideas, no matter how bizarre it seemed, but would always maintain a modest discipline to teach obedience, respect and virtues. She has her own way of balancing things and the balance is always so impeccable, so accurate.

As a part of a true teacher, I think Im genetically fascinated by the charm of teaching and learning, and I bare immense respect for this profession. It saddens me to see many who hate teaching jobs because of low socio-cultural and economic motivation. There are many with these fatal misconceptions who scuff at teachers and look at them as someone who never had guts to start a corporate business or stand as a proud doctor, or engineer or at least a government official, and thus perceive them as losers sticking to a profession like teaching that has low economic value, low social status and almost no cultural motivation. Such misconceptions are the product of ignorant opinions of illiterate mass, but at times, also the well-educated mass seen often in our society. She had a totally different approach to life; she pursued her personal growth by standing tall against such notions and etched an indelible mark on my young mind. She wanted me to become a professor. One day, I’ll make her dream come true. But for now, I’m here with my pen eulogizing someone who truly deserves to be commended, but mostly remained unsung and unheard of, under the shadow of her family, her children.

Seems like blink of an eye, but time has flown really fast. She has been with me as my strength, my enduring will sharing my pain, my joys and dreams throughout. I am one of those fortunate who has a mother to love, to care and shower her incessant moral and emotional support. Most importantly, the invaluable reward of education that I have at present is a lifetime gift from her. I may sound fiercely biased, undesirably sentimental but I know I’m true to my heart and truth alone do I speak. For me, it’s always been a tough job to figure out, almost a failed contemplation when I sit to think on why mothers love their children the extreme way they do. Perhaps it is best if we leave it unexplained, untold because its delicious beauty lies in remaining enigmatic, esoteric and inexplicable. As a woman myself, I would love to feel the same emotions, the same sacred flow of inspiration- flowing with the fluidity of life, of love and all the unconditional blessings- for my baby as my mother feels for me. I will try to be as wonderful a mother as she is, if not better. So here is to you my dearest mother, I give you a tight hug of love, filled with all my deepest reverence for you, as a tribute to what you have been and you truly are to me. I thank you and I salute you as my true Hero!