IT HAD DRIZZLED, THAT EVENING...










Okay, today is ‘Mother’s Day’.


I haven’t wished my mom, yet. And, I don’t think I will be…


That makes me, certainly, a misfit… the one who doesn’t know how to move with times… Or, something like that?


Last morning, I was talking to my mom, who lives in Mangalore, my hometown, and we spoke for about half an hour, almost… I love her;  in fact, worship her… and she loves me even more! And, I can shamelessly say this: she is very proud of me!


Yesterday,  mom was enquiring about my health, my wife’s recent knee pain and, above all, about my young son who studies in Pune. It had drizzled in Mangalore the day before evening, that’s on 11th May. “Son, God must have been showering His blessings on you, Harry (my younger bro) and your families…” she said, “Twenty-one years ago, on 11th May evening, it had drizzled.”


I and my brother, Harry, had got married, together, in Mangalore on 11th May… and, that evening, it had drizzled… and, believe me when I say this: neither Harry nor I remembered this… My elderly mom did!


Last evening, my mother was telling me: “Son, God must have been showering His blessings on my two sons and their families…!”


Wow! That’s the quintessential mother!


I am 53, and to her, I am her ‘son’… Yes, she still calls me – ‘Putha’!


She still calls all her five sons that – ‘Putha’!


She still worries about us… When we are sick, when our wives are sick… when our young children are sick or when they have their exams… Yes, she still worries…


She saves the money we, her sons, now and then give her… and, when we have crunch, God knows how… she comes to know about our tight situation… and, quietly puts something in our hands… “Don’t tell anyone,” she warns!


Let the left hand not know what the right hand gives…


She cannot solve our problems… Still, she – being our mother – thinks, she can!


“Wow!” who else, in our lives, can think so?


Who else can still call you ‘Putha’ even though you need a walking stick?


Who else can come to know when you are in a 'tight spot'?





And, yes, who else can remember this: 


that evening, twenty-one years ago,


 it had drizzled… 


and, we had just returned home 


from our wedding hall?

 

Who else can?


"Love you mom… Yes, a 'Happy Mother’s Day'… with my warmest hug!

 May you live long… and with all the happiness in the world! 

Thank you!"










GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Nilesh

Comments

Reeba Punit said…
Touching post. Thank you. - Reeba
May 14, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...