My Mother is beautiful. I know you’re thinking every child thinks so, as all Mothers are beautiful. But mine truly is, inside out.
My mother is a fantastic cook and makes the best Moong Dal Halwa in the world, among many other dishes. She is THE person everyone wants at all weddings in the family and among friends. I have lost count of the number of brides she has mixed ‘Ubtan’ for, for their Haldi ceremonies. The wedding planning, execution, shopping, and deciding the Menu, Mom is the one people consult.
Mom is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and gave stage performances while in college. She is a Graduate who got married in her final year of college. In fact, she returned home to Bhopal immediately after her wedding to take her final exams.
Mom has always been a homemaker. Being the eldest, Dad and Mom took care of a huge joint family, as my Grandparents passed away young. Dad has always maintained that all credit goes to Mom; he did nothing. She is closer to his siblings and still talks more about her amazing in-laws than she does about her parents.
My sister and I learned everything we know from observing her doing things. And Mom shows up in everything we do, in the way we keep house, the way we cook and serve, in the way we dress, or in how we deal with people.
Yes, Mom does everything brilliantly. The only thing she won’t do is speak English. Make no mistake, she has attended an English-medium school and college; she reads and writes English, but she won’t speak it.
When I saw English Vinglish for the 1st time, I bawled my heart out, throughout the film. Yes throughout. No one knew why I was sobbing away, and at that point, I couldn’t find the words to frame my thoughts. I could see my mother reflected in Sridevi’s character, Shashi, a person who feels inadequate despite being multi-talented, all because of her lack of confidence in speaking a particular language.
Do we, or do we feel, embarrassed because our Mother does not speak English? No! In fact, if at all, we feel annoyed at her lack of confidence only because she feels she may be lacking, as she does not speak a language that isn’t even ours fluently.
Would we like it if she spoke English? Only if she wants to.
On Mother’s Day, I’d like my Mom to know that we love her as she is. We don’t think she lacks anything, even though she may think she does. She has made us, and everyone around us lives beautiful with languages everyone understands universally, the languages of love, compassion, and generosity. Those are the only languages the world needs more of. Other languages can be learned.
Linking up with Deepa at kreativemommy.com for a Mother’s Day Contest sponsored by Soul Srijan.
Ohhhhh this is truly such a sweet tribute; did you share it with your mom? I want to know what her reaction is??
Your pride and love in your Mom just spills out in every word of this post Mayuri! She looks ethereally beautiful in that B/W pic – is that you with her? You were a damn cute kid- did you have to put up with peeps pulling your cheeks all the time 😉 ?
Thanks for reading, Shalini.I will be sharing the post with Mom on Mother’s Day:) Yes, that is me and, my cheeks still get pulled 🙂
aawww… mayu…. u sweetheart! this is a lovely post! your mom is gorgeous! & u r right, language is not a barrier to the spread of her love and care. and indeed, this movie was beautiful, and i cried too (in parts of it!) – it’s on my movies to be watched again list 🙂
Thanks, Ish, for reading 🙂
your mom is beautiful, and speaking a language cannot be criteria to be judged, I hope she reads the posts and realises how mch you love her. My mom is super with maths and calculation – I am just the opposite!
Thanks, Tina. You know I love your Mom na:)
Aww..this is such a lovely post. I had tears in my eyes while reading it as I remembered my mom. Moms are the best. Lovely tribute Mayuri 🙂
Hugs, Deepa. Thanks for reading 🙂
Lovely tribute Mayuri. You look so cute in that pic. Mothers are beautiful the way they are. I wonder if my Kid would say that ever.Just a wish.
Thanks, Upasna . I am sure your child will say this, and much more:)
Such a beautiful post-Mayuri.Mothers have a big role to play in our lives.Blessed are those with a good role modelYour mom obviously made you as awesome as she is.Speaking English does give you confidence .strange .but English does give you wings.Even on this blog its English, not some other language.But no reason to feel bad!
Amrita, neither Mum nor me or my family feel bad about her not speaking English:) This blog is in English yes, which she can read and comment on, in English:) Thanks for reading:)
Absolutely loved your post. You know Mayuri, you and your sister were understanding enough to not feel ashamed of your mum. I’ve personally seen school mates feeling ashamed of their parents for one reason or the other. Everything superficial and at school I knew how shallow those folks were.
You mum would be so so proud of you and a gorgeous tribute.
Have you read this – http://happinessandfood.com/maa/ A very old post but when I looked at your pictures, I thought of this.
I agree, Parul. My own cousins didn’t allow their Mom’s to come to school or in front of their friends because their Mom’s wore sarees and didn’t speak English. Thanks for reading and I love the post you shared, it left me misty eyed.
Hey, as long as you can understand her, that’s all that’s important. Is that you with her in the pictures?
Thanks for reading, John. Yes, that is me with my Mom in the pictures:)
That is so beautiful, Mayuri. Even my mother did not speak English and I actually wrote a post about that after watching English Vinglish. Love the pictures that you shared.
I am going to search for that post on your blog, Rachna. Thanks for reading:)
Such a beautiful story and your mom is truly beautiful, inside out. Teaching by example is something all our moms have done for us. Please let her know that not knowing a language in no way diminishes the person that she is. I’m sure she knows it by now thanks to your wonderful post. Wishing your mom a very very Happy Mother’s Day 🙂
Happy Mothers Day to you , Shailaja. Thanks for reading and sharing your beautiful thoughts:)
Lovely Pictures, Mayuri! Kudos to Auntyji for braving it all with so much finesse. I now know from where you got your beautiful looks! She is more than perfect and a foreign language won’t have any effect!
Thank you, Chinu.