Mothers day Poetry: My Mother

 

MY  MOTHER 

My Mother, she was.

Yes, she 'was', but she will be,

Yes, still be With me, 

 within me. 

She was not extraordinary,

but yes, she was not ordinary.

My MOTHER, she was,

and yes, she is. 

She was not 'extremely' pretty,

but pretty enough to

attract people to smile back and talk.  

She was my MOTHER.

Yes, she is.

She was not the so-called "well-educated",

but enlightened enough

to make her children well-educated.

She was my MOTHER.

Yes, she is.

She was not to be labelled, "Smart".

but she was smart enough to 

run back and switch off the flame,

 when the earth was shaking beneath.

She was my MOTHER.

Yes, she is.

She was not social enough,

and be the speaker amongst the crowd,

but rather was a good listener,

showing her intellect.

She was my MOTHER.

Yes, she is.

She never told me,

about good and bad.

She worked on herself

and taught me by her deeds.

She was my MOTHER.

Yes, she is. 

  

       I am a proud daughter

and yes, a mother who wants to be,

like her mother and be loved by all.

I loved my MOTHER,

and yes, I will love her forever.

I LOVE YOU MAA

Thank you for reading about my "Maa". Hope my poetry has added character to the picture of hers. Looking at her you can make out that the poetry has described a person, her simplicity and peaceful nature. But the child she is carrying is not me but my elder brother. 

She was a mother to three of us. I am the youngest of an elder brother and sister. 

Rarely we have seen her get angry. Not to mention, never did she beat any of us.

If I carry on writing about her, I think my memories of 51 yrs will not have much to write, as she didn't have many forms of her that would make her biography hold a lot of space on the bookshelf. Such a simple mother she was, even though she faced many harsh phases in her childhood. 

The reason why I am updating my page and adding a bit more to the poetry is that I wanted to tell all the readers, what I meant by, " She was smart enough to run back and switch off the flame when the earth was shaking beneath", cause that's the space where if I put myself as a reader, I don't get to relate to, what is been said.

It is about an incident when her smartness and presence of mind were proven. 

In the year 2001, In India, Gujarat witnessed a major earthquake. That experience was something very unusual and new to us. From childhood, we have heard that when an earthquake happens, everything shakes and breaks. The earth brakes apart and we have seen it in movies, but on 26th January 2001, we faced it live. That's what I mentioned.

The scene happened was, It was around 8: 30 AM. Me and my baba were in the front room and my mother was in the kitchen. She was boiling milk. All of a sudden we realised that the seat beneath was shaking. I asked Baba, why are you shaking it so hard? He said, "No" I am not and in the blink of a moment, he realised that it is a quake. Simultaneously my mother peeked in and asked, what's happening, the milk in the pan is whirling. Baba said, "Joldi ghor theke bero" (fast, run out of the house). Maa, instead of running out, went back to the kitchen and switched off the flame before moving out.

I thought afterwards and many times often, after the episode, what I would have done if I would have been in the same circumstance. To be honest, I was never confident in reacting the same way as my mother did.

Life-threatening incidents are the ones that define your alertness and smartness the most, so I would have not done justice to the poetry without mentioning those six lines about " My Mother". Hope I can put forward "My Mother" as she was.

( She gave up to Covid on 9th April 2021. Remembering her every day, every possible moment and especially on Mother's Day, writing about her. Love you MAA)

Interested in reading a short story, click on the link.

Short story: The Teacher