(a recent photo with my mother)
This morning after the breakfast I went to wish ‘happy
Mother’s day’ to two of our co-workers, both women. They had forgotten that
today was the mother’s day. I wished them, exchanged a few words and then returned
to my room. As I was climbing up to my room, for a moment I remembered my
mother. Like all other mothers, she is also very special to me. I felt she was
walking with me, talking to me holding my hand…
When I was growing, the financial situation of my
family was not very good. My mother had to be very cautious about spending
money. With the limited salary of my father, she had to manage the entire
family- our food, dress, medicine, education... Everyday she would serve food
for all of us. She would eat only when we were all fed well. Often I would notice
that she would take puffed-rice (a typical home made food, people would eat
whenever one cannot effort to have rice) with rice. Many a times I had asked
her, why she preferred to take puffed rice, in seated of taking rice? She would
reply that puffed-rice increase the taste of the meal. It was much later one
day I discovered that whenever there was less rice she would take puffed-rice. She
would always feed us well and then she would eat very less…
When I was in the novitiate, my novice director came
to visit my family. The first question, my mother asked him was: “does Ripon
listen to you?” My novice director was surprised. He came and narrated to all
of us only Ripon’s mother asked, “Does Ripon listen to you”, while other asked,
“How is my son? How is his health?”
Some times we do not notice sacrifices our mothers
make. Often they are unnoticed. Perhaps ‘mother’s day’ is a good occasion to be
aware of their sacrifices and tell to them, “Ma, we love you!”
