My Mom

She is over 83 years now.

She keeps herself active through the day.

She has this good habit of reading the latest in Tamil Magazines excepting the ones with Cinema as their main reportage. She loves to keep in touch with the most modern happening be it lifestyles, cooking, health, things spiritual, temples and their significances.

She used to walk everyday to the library. A couple of years ago she had several minor falls and from that time onwards I had to press into service a door delivery of all the latest books for her and some latest and wonderful English magazines for myself.

She has an early bath before 6am. Right from 5.30am onwards her TV is on with Jaya TV's religious matters. At 7am its the cookery show on Kalaingar which she watches with so much interest even though she may have done those traditional recipes in her yesteryears so often for all of us. Then its my eldest sister's (sis1 from now on) call for a brief chat to catch up with mom's well-being.
Then its either spiritual lectures on CDs or some shlokas she likes to listen on her tape recorder for at least an hour. (My sister {sis2 from now on} from America has always bought her the best of tape recorders always. She has the latest this time too, one which supports the MP3).

Then the library man arrives with his offer. She returns the previous set in exchange with this new set every alternate day. She goes through them.
By that time the morning meal is ready for her. As I like to serve her hot and freshly prepared meals every day, she has that in her pure silver plate gifted by my sis2 which she felt was good for mom's health. It has a gold coin embedded in the centre.

She would lounge in her ease chair and watch a couple of TV serials before noon, which were shunted from the night prime time to the daytime.

Then she lounges in her bed reading and sleeping alternately for about 3 hours.

By then its almost 3pm and tea time for us. She prepares the tea and distributes it to us - me if I am home and my husband.
Later its the thrill of thinking what tiffin to prepare for the evening.
She loves to experiment a lot from the recipes she reads in the magazines and also the cookery shows that she does not like to miss each day.
Day before it was Kachipuram Idlis,
yesterday with the leftover batter, it was masala dosas (she loves to cut onions and tomatoes and potatoes to make them into a masala curry)
and today its idli upma made from mashed up leftover kanchi idlis but with a generous toss of madras onions (sambar or chinna vengaayam) and lots of tomatoes! If the quantity is less then I have to make something for ourselves but we both get to taste whatever she makes for herself in small quantities.
All this when her health permits. Otherwise she is on good old kanji (porridge) or lemon juice.

She has a love for all things sour. Lemon juice, tamarind based dishes like tomato-onion pacchadi, ellu-inji pacchadi, puli kaachal, puli gothshu, (lemon and orange candies) are all her favourites. And she makes them so well. I have never been able to replicate her recipes the way she makes them. Perhaps its her special touch that lends it that unique taste.

By the time she finishes making her tiffins she is putting her cell phone on charge-mode. Again my sis2 from America who has been calling her each and every day during a particular time of the evening (in America its early morning before she gets ready to go to office)since the past so many years has become a habit and a pleasure for my mom. She waits for this call so eagerly as a child would for its mom. Sis2 who holds such a big position in her office yet it looks as if she has as much time as mom wants to speak to for the day! She listens to mom giving her view on this shloka or that from Abhirami Andadi, the Bhagawat Geeta, etc. It is this sis2's patience, tolerance and kindness which always manages to make mom feel so happy. After that call, she has her tiffin, watches TV serials from 8pm right upto 10pm and then off she goes to bed.

My mom is indeed blessed as each of her daughters who stay away from her do such a lot for her. They get her special gifts which she uses everyday and tells nobody in particular that this is Uma's - sis1 - special brown rice packet, this is Usha's - sis2 - bedsheet which is so nice and soft and this is Asha's - sis4 - red kettle with black coating inside which heats water in 3 minutes flat and whistles when done! She has so much love for her last daughter sis4 who always does special things for mom in her very gentle and soft way. All sisters are gentle, kind and will anything for mom with love and affection and with no cribbing at all.

My mom is special as she went through a lot of personal struggles just so that she could provide us with a roof over our heads, an education she was keen we all pursued even in the worst of scenarios in our lives. She worked as a teacher for 25 years without a break. She helped herself, she helped us children, she got help from her relatives during crucial times. She was a brave woman who knew how to bring in help from outside when the time arose not to speak of the barbs and hurtful words which all have to go through during such times. But help did come by and the positive goal was achieved. That is what matters in the end.

To her we owe a lot. To my maternal side of the family who helped us tide over our tight financial times, we owe a lot. My pranaams (salutations) to God are incomplete without a pranaam to my mom.
There is God above and he could not be everywhere so he made moms.

Jai Ho Maa.

Mahalakshmi.