Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
When a young woman has to raise her family of four children in the hinterlands, her courage and self-confidence come to the rescue, in this charming, real-life story of a mother.
I stepped out of the hot, humid bathroom after pouring a whole bucket of cool water on myself during my evening bath. As I stood in front of the mirror, suddenly the reflection seemed so unlike me, yet so familiar.
I stared at the image in the mirror. Never in my life had I thought that I resembled my mother, but today, I looked so like her.
Memories came flooding, of her coming out of the bathroom on summer evenings, dripping little water droplets from her hair while walking to her room. The smell of her soap and talcum powder wafted around me and I smiled at the reflection in the mirror.
I felt at peace and nodded at my acceptance of the full circle of life.
I grew up with the usual rebellious streak of a teenager, always grumpy with my mother. She was responsible and I blamed her for anything bad that happened in my life.
My mother – the barely literate village girl who shone bright with her grit and determination. A big red bindi adorning her big forehead, she looks very much like the late Sushma Swaraj (remember the friendly ex-foreign minister of India?)
The author’s mother as a young woman, standing
We siblings identified her with the big poster of the lioness in her bedroom, which we gaped at since our early childhood. She has the same fierce and independent nature. There are so many stories of her that are worth telling. But her children, the four of us have been the first-hand witnesses to her badassness.
She raised us single-handedly in the wild, wild hinterland of 80s Bihar, the land of daring robberies in the day and chain snatchers roaming the street at any time. When we settled in our first home in the town, it was a tiny house in the midst of a still under-development residential colony. Vast empty plots surrounded it, the remnants of farmlands converted to the city’s ever-spreading suburbs. As our father was in the police service, he was posted in still more remote parts of the state and visited us as and when his duties at work permitted.
The mother lioness had a weapon of her choice to boost confidence in these unique circumstances. Her Dunali – the quintessential rifle stayed with her, getting an annual cleaning and ceremonial firing on Diwali. On rare occasions, mother also flung it with aplomb at miscreants loitering around, firing in the air sometimes to scare them away. It was enough to spread the word and we spent a few fairly uneventful early years. The robbers stayed two lanes away and although we kept hearing stories of them creating a nuisance in the area, they dared not enter our lane.
Physically, she is not your superwoman persona. I have inherited her thin frame and modest height of 5 feet some inches. She stands straight with full confidence though, and that explains why it is said that courage stems in the heart.
I remember and miss her hug today. I realise that I love this super confident, charming and gutsy mom, whose struggles and personality I could appreciate only when I wore her shoes of motherhood.
And I wish to tell her all this when we meet, because she will not read this piece, this simple mother of mine.
All images provided by the author
Saras values free will and respect of everyone. She is in search of the truth and considers listening to heart over mind the biggest strength for human beings. She works in software industry for a read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address