On this Mother’s Day, we share some wonderful stories from our readers on the joys of motherhood and its many unique facets.

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By Ivy Rose

The story is about my first born! My son was just about a year old when I decided to take up my career from where I left it when I got married. I had a well trained housemaid and that prompted me to see if I could restart my career as a Lecturer in a college near my home. Everything went off well till the day my li’l one fell ill. He was down with “measles” and I was quite unprepared for it. I kept awake day and night with my infant son in my lap and though my husband told me that they say it  would take about five to six days for it to subside I was woebegone and totally done to. We got in touch with our Doctor and he did his best to ease our tensions. On the third day when his fever was just minimal and he started being his usual self, I thought it would be okay if I got back to work.

As was my practice I walked up the lecture room dais and started with my newly prepared talk on Romantic Poetry ! When I opened my eyes next I was in the sickbay of the college with a number of very anxious students and colleagues looking at me in great consternation! They told me that I just collapsed and they had already called for the Doctor and that he said there was nothing to worry. I sat up in great embarrassment as I am known for my strict ways! I blurted out something about my son and rushed out of the room only to find that my friends had already gone home and brought my son and the maid to the college!!

I held on to my son and wept shamelessly in front of the crowd of people who failed to realise that I had not slept for three days and nights and that my only fear was that something dangerous was going to happen!! The new young mother! Well even today when I think about it I feel a sense of anxiety taking possession of me!! Thank God my family has been blessed with good health all these while and today I am the proud grandmother of four healthy and happy youngsters- two each from my two sons! So much for young mothers!! God bless them all.

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By Lakshmi

ASHTAAVATARAM

I beg to differ from many people when they say that one becomes a mother when one gives birth to a child and holds him / her in ones’ arms. I became a mother the day I got to know I was pregnant.  (I am a proud mother of two lovely daughters.)  Since then I have been in MATAVATARAM and enjoying every bit of it.

The second avataram is that of a FATHER!  My husband is an army officer and has spent 70% of our married life away from home.  Vaccinations, travelling, school admissions, parent – teacher meetings, annual / sports day functions……… I had to fill up for him and thus had to take on PITAVATARAM.

From prompting them to babble – forming first words – baby talk – coherent speech, making them hold a pencil – forming strokes – colouring – calligraphy, crawl – sit – walk – run, addition – subtraction – mulitiplication – division, experiment – observation – scientific equations, EVS – music – dance……..mine was a complete GURUAVATARAM.

During ill – health and sleepless nights while administering medicines, homemade remedies / kashaayams, sponge bath, temperature recordings, nursing them back to health – VAIDYAAVATARAM it was all the way.

As they were growing and I was growing along with them, the endless fights, arguments, disciplining, strictness, admonishments, tears, duels, differences……. in the name of ‘For your good only’, I was an enemy in their eyes – so RIPUAVATARAM it was!!

Once I realized they were in their teens and I had to stop ‘mothering’ them all the time, they accepted me with open arms.  Now they are more than friends, they are my confidantes.  We talk about anything under the sun. When they started sharing their ‘secrets’ with me, I realized I was in my SAKHIAVATARAM.

Latest movies, happenings, trends, styles, fashion, mobiles, apps, gadgets, technology….you name it and I am always falling short.  So when I am learning from them, I am in SHISHYAAVATARAM.

Blame it on hormonal changes, pangs of growing old, mood swings etc., nowadays it seems I am the one who is misbehaving, hyper – reacting, throwing temper tantrums, being impatient et all.   They hug me, reassure me and say “Take a chill pill mom, it is OK, relax” and bring me around.  When I am childlike and they are my mothers, my avataram is undoubtedly BALIKAVATARAM.

The happiest, most contented and blessed soul that I am, I have a long Thank You list – God Almighty for bestowing his choicest blessings on me, my mother and father for nurturing me to be the woman that I am,

my husband – for giving me the divine gift of MOTHERHOOD,

and most importantly, my angels – who have made me realize how fulfilling BEING a mother is!!!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

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By Mansha Kapoor

I am a new mother of a beautiful 5 month old daughter Kaashvi. After my delivery i went to my mom’s place for around a month since this was my first time and needed mom’s support and guidance. Initially it was very difficult for me to accept myself as a mother because the endless nursing sessions and sleepless nights with my baby were taking a toll on my health. I was taking it as just a duty but when I saw my mother waking with me to take care of my baby and telling me to sleep for some time and then next morning waking up as usual and cooking and taking care of whatever I need. It was then i realised what motherhood actually is, no matter how she is feeling, a mother would wake up so that her child can rest, an unconditional love which only a mother can give. Somewhere deep inside, she inspired me to be a mother. After a month when I saw my baby smile awake for the first time, it was the happiest moment for me. Her endless smiles and talking in her baby language  with me makes me forget everything. With time, I have become more responsible and willing to take any pains when it comes to my baby. It feels great to be a mother.

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By Rimi Banik

I could not stop myself from sharing mine and my little daughter Aahana’s picture, delivered her on 28th august 2013.

For me mother’s day is too special as now I can realise how responsible she has to be to bring up her child. For that I salute my mom first , for me and my sister she is the pillar of strength. In one word she is an extra-ordinary yet simple lady..

My journey has just started and the feeling is wonderful too. At times I am scared as well whether I will make a good mother or not! But just after I see her I get charged up. She is so full of life in her 8 months, hope she keeps giving me such strength through out.

I used to work in a tourism industry and due to erratic work life I had to take a break and I hope I can resume my work by next year beginning.

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By Sudipta Dhruva

As I waited for my son Prateek’s bus to arrive, my heart pounded. It had been three months since I last saw him. Many other parents waited impatiently around me. I tried to see whether their expressions reflected what I was feeling. But they seemed fine, just expectant and happy. But I was worried. What if my son had changed? What if he no longer needed me in his life? What if, and this was my worst fear, what if he no longer loved me?

When Prateek who was all of 11 years old had come to me six months back to say that he wanted to go Rishi Valley, which was a residential school, I was surprised. He had a friend who studied there and after hearing from him about the school, my son was convinced that he should go there too. I t was a school where the system of education did not focus on competition and exams but on learning and growing to be an independent thinking and aware person. It was based on J.Krishnamurthy’s philosophy. My husband and I, along with Prateek visited the school and fell in love with it. After an interview and test, Prateek secured his admission and the decision was made.

But the rest of our family and friends were aghast. “You have just one son and you want to send him away” “Does Prateek have a discipline problem that you need to send him to a hostel” “Is your marriage in trouble and you do not want your child to be around?” These were just some of the responses to the news.  People wanted to know why we were sending him away. Like there was something wrong and for some reason, we did not want Prateek around. They even questioned my putting my career before my child. My mother in law even accused me of being an indifferent mother. My mother who had been a teacher all her life prophesied that any school without exams would not be good for Prateek’s education.

And then there were the horror stories. There were stories of children who had gone to hostel and completely disconnected from their parents. There were stories of children who had developed a drug problem. There were stories of the distance that came with children going off to a hostel.  There were tales of children who came back from school and could not relate to their parents at all and who as they grew up left them never to return. There were also incidents that they related where the child grew up to be a wastrel and never achieved anything in his life and it was all the fault of the parents who had sent him away.

But, we held strong though I must admit that the fears were building in me.  Though I believed that an education system is all about building character and teaching a child to be independent and empowering them with life skills, I was still not confident that I was making the right decision. What if all these people, some more experienced than me, some older, some with more knowledge of child psychology were right and I was wrong. But the step had been taken and today as I waited for my son to come back from his first term at school, I knew that finally D Day was here. I had never been separated from Prateek for this long before.

The school bus arrived, the children almost falling out of the windows with enthusiasm and joy. The parents cheered. As the children all roiled out of the bus, my stomach clenched. I waited for my first sight of Prateek. What would his expression tell me? And then I saw him, running towards me, arms outstretched. And as he hugged me tight, he whispered into my ears “Thank you so much for sending me. I know how difficult it was for you. Love you so much” And my tears rolled down. All the tears I had held back for three months when I had struggled with life without him. And with my tears, all my worries, all my fears dissolved and as I smiled at him and hugged him back, I knew I had made the right decision.

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