MOTHER

 

My mother was born on 5 May,1955. My maternal grandfather Kolukuluri Subba Raju recorded her date of birth. She never celebrated her birthday because we did not have this culture in our family.

We lived in a remote mango garden near hills for about 20 years. She walked a kilometer daily and brought drinking water for us from a well there. She seldom scolded us on any occasion. She suffered much those days due to her in-laws. My father never looked after her as a special creature in his life because he was always involved in his job as a small employee in a cooperative sugar factory and buying pieces of land with money accumulated this way. I think my mother is one of the poor, innocent and ignorant mothers of India who serve others and sacrifice their health and comforts on the way.

She had three sons. She is not happy with two of her daughters-in-law because they don’t possess the kind of patience, toil and vision she represented once. Now educated girls want comfortable and happy lives in the company of their parents, husband and friends. They don’t like to sacrifice anything for others just like that which many women did in the past. My mother is a selfish creature. She criticizes other boys and girls frequently but not us three of her sons. This way I don’t find her as an ideal creature.

She is living with our father in our village now. She is suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and knee joint pains. She goes to the Navy Hospital at Visakhapatnam once a month to get tested and take medicines free of cost, a facility many parents of military personnel utilize in India. My brother Srinivas served in the Indian Army for 17 years and came out as a Launch Naik. My mother goes to this government hospital to save money. She should not take a train considering her knee joint pains because it pains when she gets in by steps. She takes passenger train at Gopala Patnam halt near Visakhapatnam when returning after the treatment at Kalyani Hospital. My father always accompanies her. My two brothers or I have no time to take care of her even at this stage of her life. She is content with her life now. This is what many lower middle class Indian women do; to be satisfied with what destiny gives them.

Before expecting anything from others, it is mandatory to check our case. If I compare with what my mother did for me and what I did for her during the last 33 years, her score would be 90 and mine 20. I asked her recently to come to my abode in Hyderabad to stay with us. She did not come. Her expectations from a homemaker are different from what the present-day girls do in their homes. Conflicts are bound to emerge if she stays with us because my wife Srijana is a sensitive girl. My mother does not know how to teach things peacefully to a girl of her familiarity because she underwent ordeals earlier wherein nothing was taught to her coolly. She stayed back at our house in our village. She enjoys the ignorant talk of her familiar women there, that place and the presence of my elder brother there. She frequently goes to the temple of Lord Shiva there because she is His devotee.

My eldest brother is serving her allowing her to be treated at a hospital meant for them as army people. My elder brother took her to Varanasi recently, the primary place of her favourite God. I did nothing to her in this direction. I pity myself for this drawback.

I often think and write like a social reformer and idealist. When I assess the worth of my character as a son to my mother, I am a failure. She did much for me. I did not do anything great for her in return. I cry remembering the lives of women like my mother in India. They live for us. We are living for ourselves. I wish to do something good for her sometime in future.

I regret to know that no son can avoid the burden of destiny of his mother from her life. Her health disorders are controlling her life every day.

My salutes to all mothers in India who sacrificed their lives for their children. They are second to God. Check the lives of such mothers to understand what India means and why we need to think and live now and in future like them to retain that great image of India.