Every year on 12 August we celebrate Mother’s Day in Thailand. Flower bouquets, brunches and gifts are all bestowed on mom to show how much we appreciate her, while we ignore everything else, she saves for the rest of the year. But luckily, we Indians have mothers who are not shy about reminding us how much they have sacrificed for us since before we were born. Here are six out of infinite reasons why we should honour Indian mothers every day.
1. She reminds us to eat.
Nothing brings more joy to the Indian mother than obsessively checking to see if we have eaten. If we are hungry, a mother’s life’s purpose is fulfilled by feeding us, even though she will complain incessantly about how hard she has to work chopping onions while you lazily scroll on your phone. Even if you say you are not hungry, she will still force you to eat more. This culminates in her favourite activity which is berating you for not learning how to cook, forgetting the fact that she never let anyone enter her kitchen.
2. She always has a tissue or odd item available when you need.
One tiny sneeze, and your mother is rifling in her purse producing a napkin she most likely stole from the Italian restaurant where you had dinner last week. Mirrors, toothpicks, straws, snacks—you name it, she has it at the ready. Bonus is the lecture that follows about how you should always keep these things handy as well. This will result in your mom stuffing tissues into your bag every time she sees you.
3. She makes sure we stay connected.
Is it Auntie Rasmalai’s birthday? Who is Auntie Rasmalai anyway? It doesn’t matter because your mom will make sure you send her a message with birthday greetings. She is always aware of important milestones celebrated by anyone in the community. Therefore, you must also send your best wishes to people you might not know. This helps your mom show off what a good kid you are and also show off what a good mother she is.
4. She is your human alarm clock.
Who needs to set a wake-up call when mom is pushing the vacuum right against your door at 6AM on Saturday morning? She has lived many lives before your lazy self emerges from slumber. Even if you wake up at the ungodly time of 9AM, she will lie and tell you it’s already lunch time. She will also point out that Aunty Rasmalai’s daughter wakes up at 5AM every day to study (even though you still don’t know who that is). How lucky you are to be treating the home she works so hard to maintain like a hotel!
5. She doesn’t allow you to complain.
Try telling mom you are tired or feeling anxious and you will hear all about how she lived alone in boarding school, took care of 18 kids and ageing elders, while holding down a full-time job. And here you are stressed out about your winged eyeliner being uneven. Not to say your problems aren’t real, but Indian moms have a knack for bringing us back down to reality even when we don’t know we need it.
6. She prays for us.
All those blessings in your life? You better thank mom for all the puja she does on your behalf! While you are busy socialising, she spends her free time at the mandir praying for your marriage, to make her a grandma, and that you will hopefully learn to cook one day. If anything goes wrong in your life, she will immediately call the pundit to check your horoscope and arrange the necessary prayers to remove your obstacles. Thank you, mom, for being our everyday miracle-maker! We will try to remember to be nice tomorrow too, or risk getting a scolding if we don’t.