The Fragrant Petal

Mother is the fragrant petal that emanates pleasantness even while you crush it.- Anonymous. 

I have a friend. An old lady. A brahmin widow. I met her in a park in my vicinity. She is the talkative kind. She would rant about her problems on and on and on. I would listen to her hoping she would feel better.

Though I did nothing much for her, one day she blessed me. She said, "You must become very rich after you finish your Ramayanam! You must get Rs. 50,000 for the book." She is a poor woman. For her, that money is a huge amount. She was blessing me with all her might. And she could only make it that big. It was both funny and overwhelming for me. And then she continued, "And after that, very soon, you must get married. You must get a nice girl, who respects your parents and takes care of your family well." I was moved. I knew she was going through a rough patch in her life. Though in pain, she had a heart to bless me. That was overwhelming.

Her life changed from bad to worse all on a sudden. Her daughter, a divorcee, started to beat her thoroughly and wouldn't let her into the house. So this lady, who had a mother too, had to roam around in the park and other areas during the day with a much older woman. And in the nights she had to take shelter in some phenyl factory vehicle sheds. This continued for about a week on a daily basis. When I saw the lady's swollen forehead, bleeding nose and the wounds on her ear and nose due to the pulling off of ornaments, I was worried, sad and angry. I thought of doing something for her, like making a complaint in the police station, or perhaps having a word with her daughter. But then because my intuition told me to keep quiet, I postponed my idea of intervening and just refrained myself in being a moral support for her.

And then somehow, the beating ended and my friend, this lady, was back to normal. Though she still has her financial struggles, her physical suffering had ended. 

Today, I met her after long. She said, "My daughter is suffering!" Her daughter has got some severe illness. I do not remember the details. But I understand it is very severe. I smiled and said, "Did she not beat you?!!"

The lady's face fell. She couldn't tolerate someone justifying her daughter's suffering. "When there is a fight I may talk like I hate her. I may say I want to leave her forever and go away. But If I really go away, who will take care of her? To whom will I go? She is my daughter. When she is suffering, I am feeling so difficult."

My sun sign is Aries. I hate to accept, someone can do something better than me. Yet, I realise and accept that I cannot love my mother as much as she loves me. And also, I realise, tomorrow, my love for my children will never be a match to my wife's love for them. As far as I have seen, if there is one thing women are best at, it is in being a mother. Like Maestro Ilayaraja says, "There is no such thing called bad mother!"