Maa

Maa – The first thought or image that comes to our mind when we hear or read this word is of our mother or mumma or mummy or mom or maa, whatever name you like to call her by. For some of us the image or thought might even include our grandmothers or an important female figure of family – maybe an aunt. We call our mother’s sister, ‘Masi’or ‘Mausi’ and in Hindi that breaks down to ‘Maa jaisi’ meaning similar to a mother. If I ask you to remember some moments spent with your mom, you’ll have a truckload full of memories and a hundred flashbacks. She is the one and the only person who has done everything to make your life better, easier, comfortable, happier and what not. The one person who stayed up till late in the night because you wouldn’t sleep (when you were a little baby). The one person who would shout at you for getting hurt while playing, and at that same time reaching for the first aid box. The one person who you could wake up in the middle of the night, when you were not feeling well. The one person who took your little fingers in her hand and taught you how to walk and talk. The person who has made you who you are today. I could go on and on about what all she has done and it may vary from person to person but these are a few examples of what I have experienced, personally.
I wouldn’t be wrong if I said she is god. Because she is. Someone said that God couldn’t be present in all the homes so he created mothers. And I couldn’t agree more. There is absolutely nothing that she won’t do for her children. She always protects her children and sometimes to protect them, she has to hurt herself. She almost always agrees to our demands, no matter how irrational they are, just to make us happy. Just to see us smiling. Because that is what keeps her happy. Our smile. Our happiness. Becoming something in life, achieving success and doing what she couldn’t. (That doesn’t mean you need to complete her goals, but just your own).
When we start going to school, she is the one who gets up in the morning with us, gets us ready for school, makes our food, fills the water bottle, puts the bag on our tiny shoulders and drops us till the van or bus stop. She is there to pick us back in the afternoon, ready to listen to all the stories we have got to tell her – about how someone else took our pencil or how the teacher scolded us or how someone pushed us in the assembly line. She’ll be all stern and scolding if we didn’t eat the lunch because she is worried about us. She makes us do homework, teaches us new things, gets us enrolled into extracurricular classes and helps us in our little steps along the way.
And then we grow up to become teenagers and have broken hearts or mood swings or throw tantrums, she is always there. Sometimes she might be angry with us but later she always comes back and explains us calmly and guides to a better path, a better life. And that might not seem so at that time, but later in life, (probably when we would have kids ourselves) we’ll surely remember that what she said was right. We might have lots of fights and arguments and sometimes what she might say won’t be right but the intent behind it would never be wrong.
And sometimes, even we should understand by putting ourselves into her shoes, and realizing. All that is needed to mend things is say “Sorry” or “I love you”. Because that’s what it all comes down to, expressing our love for her. It’s not important to be vocal and expressive all the time but once in a while, just go hug her randomly, kiss her on the cheek, take her out for dinner, buy her flowers, get her a gift, or just tell her how important she is and how much you love her.
Mothers are an integral part of our lives. They’re there to catch us when we fall. But sometimes they let us fall as well, so that we learn.
And, blessed are those children who find a best friend in their mother. I’d like to thank my mother for being such an amazing best friend all along and forever.

(Disclaimer: Ofcourse, your dad might have been there in all of the above things too, but usually in India, these tasks are mostly done by mothers)