It is that time of the year when I feel emotional. People from the East of India believe that Durga Ma comes to her father’s house and stays with them for the 9 days. I have seen and heard people crying on the day when Ma supposedly departs from Earth and goes back to heaven. I tell this myself once every while, ‘Ma, I wouldn’t have perhaps thought about you 4 times in a day if you were physically alive but today I do so every day’.
The first Puja ever was what I attended with my mother. She was scared that I would get lost in the crowd and hence she lifted me up wherever we went. I remember she had bought me a pair of Maroon coloured high heeled shoes then. I was asleep that night when we returned from the Pandals and my Parents had not checked my feet. One of the shoe must have fell somewhere and they realized that I didn’t have one only when they returned home. I got up next morning and the first thing I did was look for my newly bought shoes. I cried for sometime finding that one of the shoes has been lost. She sat along with me and cried too. Seeing her cry, I jolted and stopped crying in a second.
I remember I had finished my Class IV’s annual exams and we had gone to my hometown (Sardarshahr, let’s call it SDSR from now on) in Rajasthan for our annual trip. The months of May and June are the hottest in Rajasthan and we used to go there in May. She was going out with other aunts and uncles to visit some Monks. Like every time, she asked me if I needed anything. I asked if she could come back on time and if she would find some bangle shops on the way. When she returned, she found me waiting for her in the open balcony alongside Grandmom. She smiled and handed me a bag. It had atleast 7 types of bangles. Upon her conversations with people (people in my place inquire a lot about everything), I realized that she had spent quite an amount of money on them. She used to apply boroline after we went to bed. As her routine task, she had come down to the room where Grandmom and I used to sleep. As she touched my feet, I got up and asked if I needed those many bangles. She told me that I deserved the world and the bangles were nothing.
It was the February of 2009 and Buls’ (my younger sister) Class XII results were out. The marks were sort of history in the small town we stayed (they are the highest till date) and it had sort of become obvious that she would get a Medical seat in one of the best colleges of the country. Our Physics teacher’s wife had come running to congratulate my sister. But before she congratulated her, she hugged my mother and said that she was a victory mom. “What have you really done to your children?” was her remark. There were times she just smiled. She did the same in this case too and thanked her in return. My father added something to the conversation that day. He said that she has not travelled to a single place in the last 3 years. The percentages and ranks have got more to do with her dedication than with my sister’s intellect. The teacher’s wife nodded saying, ‘Yes, definitely’.
Mom had come to meet me in Pilani and we had planned to go back together to SDSR. We had our breakfast together in the Hostel mess and from there, I dropped her to my room and informed her that I would finish some jobs in the campus and come back during the lunch time. When I returned, I saw that my room was spic clean (not that I kept it bad but she made it beautiful) and the unwashed clothes were drying. She was standing and looking at the trees from the room. I looked at things and hugged her, both of us saying nothing. We left next morning and reached SDSR within about 3 hours by bus. Father asked her what did she do yesterday. She told him about the places she and I went together. She didn’t say anything about the hours she spent cleaning my room and clothes.
I go to Kovilpatti (CVP where I grew up and studied till Class 12) once in a while because my father still stays there and one time I visited, the house helper tells me, ‘It was so easy talking and asking anything from your Mom. She used to give it to us without creating a buzz. She gave me Xx money before she left, you know’. I just nodded to what she said and felt a deep pride inside.
I like to visit the places you wanted to go, I want to remember the names of all the Presidents and Prime ministers and what-not-in-a-name like you did, If I ever become a Mother (looks like no chances this birth) I want to be at least 50% you, I want to be as Cheerful and jolly as you, I too want to help others without realizing having done it so. I wouldn’t say you are the best in the world because I haven’t met others. But what I can definitely say is, ‘You were by far the best in the world I have seen and nobody has loved me enough to be comparable to you. You were very extremely cute, Ma’. You would be loved till I live. I will talk about you to Buls, father and Superpartner whenever we find time.
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