Let’s start this one with a story. There lived a girl from a well to do family who lived with her parents, her brother and her grandparents. The culture of Mother’s Day was a recent invasion into the traditional family. Every year this family celebrates Mother’s Day on a grand scale. This little girl used to observe what her father did for his mother on a special day and she and her brother would do the same thing to their mother. Their routine on Mother’s Day used to be (you will know later in this article why I used the words ‘used to be’) going to the temple, have breakfast at a restaurant, come home, cook special meals for their mother and grandmother with the help of the men in the house, have lunch together, gift their mothers and used to have one big family photo taken every time. This portrait would be hung up on the wall. This happened every year. As the girl and her brother grew big, due to their educational needs, they had to move from place to place. Their grandparents could not accompany them so they decided that their grandparents would stay in their ancestral house in the village. Mother’s Day cam again. This time the entire family came together minus the grandparents (not in a state to travel), so the parents and the kids called them up and wished them. Now their family became smaller only with the kids to something special for their mother. The same routine continued on that day. Years passed by and since they grew big and got busy, they would only go out for lunch on Mother’s Day. The little girl(now big) missed the old times and the celebrations they had. As years passed by, the girl got married and soon became a mother. Her kids grew big and she wanted her kids to celebrate Mother’s Day with her as she used to when she was a child. But things were different now. The age of social media and selfies had dawned upon them. Her kids were with her on a special day but were not with her (body present, mind absent- like the school times). The only time the kids came near her was when they wanted to take selfies and put them on social media handles with all the hashtags they could get related to Mother’s Day like #mother’ slove or #mother’sday2K19 and all. The little girl’s reality turned into a myth when she became a mother.
Yes, this is a story related to our generation. The essence of Mother’s Day is now dead in the waters. The true nature of this day was to forget all the misconceptions a person has about his mother and show how much they love their mother. The little girl’s memories are fading away and the generations to come will never learn the reality of it.
Happy Mother’s Day!!
THANK YOU
– P.Gayatri
