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
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