Why show affection only on Mother’s Day?

Nacharam: Should people shower mother with a lot of gifts including expensive gifts of jewellery on the occasion of Mothers’ Day, a tradition that is alien to Indian culture, only to ignore her later?

Is it the treatment that she expects from children?

“Certainly not,” pat comes the reply. Mother is central to the creation. She shares love and affection to her children and is a symbol of love. She forgets her hunger pangs by feeding the hungry mouths of her children. It is said that God created mother since it is not feasible for him to be present everywhere. She risks her life in giving birth to children and breast-feeds the baby immunising it against a host of diseases.

Indian religious texts and philosophy accords an elevated place for mother. They describe her as ‘Matrudevobhava’ treating her equal to the Almighty. Though rare but occurring in contemporary society, several civilised and educated persons are giving jitters to mothers with their words and actions. There are another breed of sons and daughters who are necking out their mothers finding her to be useless.

In some other instances, son physically carries mother to a bus stand or other prominent public place and deserts her there on the pretext of that he will turn up in a moment, which never comes. Noting her plight, some Good Samaritan persons promptly comes to her rescue sooner or later before it was too late.

What a pity?

In some other extreme cases, greedy sons are killing mothers for her share in property. There are some others, who drive her on to streets after snatching her property and other valuables. Some other family members are sending their mother to the homes for the aged to get rid of her treating her as a liability.

The woman who brought up her children with great difficulty braving many odds is expecting reciprocity of what she had given to her wards, but unfortunately this is hard to come by, in several cases, if not in all cases, in the current generation of digital India.

An 84-year-old woman, Sakuntala, who have had no children, a resident of Saibaba Home for the Aged, recalls that she was instrumental in conducting deliveries of 41 women in her family. All the youngsters have grown up and married off only to ignore her later.

In the autumn of her life, none is visiting her out of love and affection. With tears welling up in her eyes, she gives a message to younger generation to “Learn how to respect your mother.”

Mounika (24), daughter of the head of the Saibaba Home for the Aged, regards it as her luck to treat so many mothers who are inmates of the home. She looks forward to establishing many more homes like this to serve many more mothers.

BY Ramesh Valmiki