Today, Sunday, 11 May, is Mothers’ Day. I agree with those who feel that keeping just one day aside, annually, the second Sunday in May, for the celebration of the one individual whom we can take for granted to love us unconditionally is not enough. Every day belongs to our mothers. However the day does have its benefits. For instance, we can pen down a rhyme or two and gift it to her to express feelings. My mother is an avid reader of The Sunday Statesman and here is what I have written for her today.

My Mom (and Other Mothers)

Advertisement

To me the meaning of “mother” is “love”,

The description fits her like a hand in glove.

She calls you a child whether you’re nine or ninety,

Though to the rest of the world you’re a granny or auntie.

They say a mother’s debt you can never repay,

Even if you try night and day.

She is our guide, our light, our life,

The one we turn to in stress and strife.

Though we throw tantrums, argue and fight,

Soon we see that she is right.

Mothers are celebrated in films and books,

And not just for the way she cooks.

Let’s just list some that come to mind,

Forgive the omissions, do be kind.

Hamlet’s mother was hardly a saint,

But her love for her son was anything but faint.

And how can we forget Mrs. Warren by Shaw?

Or the mother in Jacob’s “Monkey’s Paw”?

They would do anything for their daughter and son

Things no one else would do, absolutely none.

Arakshaniya’s mother in the Sarat Chandra novel

Would do anything for her daughter, even grovel.

And what about the ghostess in Sukumar Ray?

Whose love for her shadow-son transcends life and day.

The “panto bhoot” doting on her “janto chana”,

Go read the poem, if you really wanna.

There are songs too with lyrics galore

Paying paeans to the woman we adore.

Then there are the Mothers who are Divine,

Through the vast eternity, their love does shine.

Ma Kali, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati,

And our beloved Mother Land, our “Desher Mati”.

We call out to them all in times of need,

When we are sad or happy….or it’s time for a feed.

Yes, art and cinema, literature and song

Talk about this lovely being for whom we all long.

But of all the mothers, real or reel,

Let me tell you what I really feel.

I know everyone loves their mothers

Yes, Dear Readers, Sisters and Brothers.

But to me my mother is the world’s very best,

When life’s a dark tunnel, I rush back to her nest.

The writer is Editor, Features