what else can a daughter ask for ??

What is the earliest memory you have of your childhood ? honestly guys, I always had a peanut size brain, so I cant boast much of memories, but yes, baba ma had ample pictures of me. So I know how my love handles started showing on my 1^st birthday or how I started getting close to being a tomboy from my second birthday party , judging by the shorts I was wearing back then. But amid all the pictures and memories one thing remains very clear, I started resembling mom, from a very early age. Today 28 years later, she still remains the most gorgeous woman I have ever met.

There are so many ways she influenced me to what I am today, when I was a kid, I remember wearing her sun glasses and standing in front of the mirror and wondering, when would I have my own ? Also I loved and I mean loved getting made up. I remember going to the doc for my Polio drops and getting a small black ink mark on my nail. I would boast to all about my black nailpolish. Now with a 28 year old daughter who wears Jockeys at home during summers, my mother still has her summer collection of ironed, salwar kameez’s at home .

Somewhere in primary I realized about the joy of marriage, courtesy the movies and doordarshan Sunday Chitrahars and I dreamt of marrying Sherlock Holmes. I was never too fond of studies or extracurricular activities. I still remember the day I pretended of a “heart pain” because I wanted to skip the Guides and scouts camp. Thank God ma pulled me to school with my paining heart that I can now boast of a national level certification.

High school was of course a case of raging hormones, where I fell in love , stayed up at night and got the phone bills soaring high, made my parents wonder, would I ever complete my education at all. But amid the insanity, she kept me from flunking class and got me to sail through smoothly. When I sat up and recited “Macbeth” and “Merchant of Venice” ma would lie next to me on the bed and keep an eye. Guess that’s  how my name came out in the newspaper for scoring among the highest in the town.

And then it all changed, Ma was no longer someone I had to beware of, someone I needed to be scared of, she comfortably became my best friend. I enjoyed chatting with her as I drove her to the parlour and her kitty parties,I enjoyed getting her books which I knew she would like to read, she too somewhere down the line, forgot her stern looks and straight face as we became best friends.

College was perhaps the greatest time to realize what my parents meant to me, at 17 when you travel for 2 nights alone to get to Pune, you thank  them for the courage they instilled in you. I remember sitting all alone at 3 in the morning at the Pune station, no cell phone with me, waiting for the sun to rise so I could take an auto to the hostel. I remember walking alone at 12 in the night after studying at my friends place, since autos were on strike and I had no option. I learnt about people and their behaviors as I did numerous part time jobs and got my own cell phone.i learnt what ma meant by saying “a  young lady should always remember what family she belongs to “ as I comfortably managed college, hanging out in the canteen, partying out all night, going to the temple whenever I wanted to take a walk and be alone.

I love your simplicity, i love the way you look so aghast when i get you an expensive gift, i love the way you smile with pride when i tell you how well my appraisal went, i love your shocked look when we go out dining at some fancy place and you see the price on the menu, the way you insist you dont need any more sarees and fancy footwear, the way you lovingly make "macher jhol" for G and have that content smile, the way you try to understand my office work and make conversation, the way you keep telling baba how well i run our home..i could go on forever Ma.

Today, I realize how many times I might have hurt you, made you cry, took away your sleep at night, got you anxious, disappointed you and got you embarrassed. But Ma you are the best thing in my life and no matter how much people would say I look like you, my best compliment is when they say “I am just like you”

Thank you for showing me what “blessings on earth” really mean and for being my Ma. Happy Mothers Day