Mother

She was born in a rather prosperous family. Her father was a Tehseeldar (District Collector in the per-independence India). Later impressed with his management skills, the Maharaja of Sirmur appointed him the General Manager for all his affairs. He was so prosperous, that when Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India visited Vikas Nagar, to inaugurate a dam, he stayed in the bungalow of my grandfather, because the officials could not find an alternate venue. Obviously she was a pampered daughter and grew up to be rather proud.

She was a beautiful women and my nanna (maternal grand father) could find an equally prosperous family to marry her. She tells me, that the marriage party arrived with the groom on an elephant, and my fathers family showered so much money that people could find it even after many many days. But things did not remain that rosy for long. My nanna, soon remarried after the death of his first wife, and sired a dozen kids. He was indeed very effective in love making!! So he got busy taking care of his big family and my father's family also, a rich zamindaar (landowner) family also soon lost most of its fortunes. So my father took up a clerical job in the government, but soon lost it, (because of some corruption charges.) Any way he soon found a private job as an accountant, the job he served almost all his rest of life. But my father was a dreamer, he aspired to be rich and he could think of no other way, but to seek his fortune in his kids. He too sired seven, hoping one of them will prove to be lucky for him. I am the eldest.

Here the real story of my mother starts. Brought up and married in prosperous families, she was a pampered woman. But she soon learned to compromise, learned to devote all her time and energy for her family, with not much family income. She is a typical woman. She spent her entire youth, almost all her life caring for us. She was not educated much, but she can read and understand English well enough. She spent all her married life thinking all the while how to manage the family budget with limited resources. Bothering all the day for our meals, our clothings and so on.

Then one day, my father bid us all goodbye, on the call from the almighty. She was then around 56. Having almost the entire family of unmarried sons and daughters. But by that time some of had grown rather young, got employed so it was not very difficult to arrange marriages. Five of us, soon got married one after another, in rather well to do families. (Except myself and my youngest brother). My youngest brother was very sick almost after an year or so after birth. It was my mother who nursed him took care of him day and night. But as the fortune had it in store, he was not to be as intelligent as his brothers and sisters, so could not find a good enough employment that could last. Anyway he is paying back his debt to his mother, by nursing her day and night, now when she is rather old, above eighty, and suffering several health problems.

Yes my mother is now suffering, I witness it all the day. She cannot get over her habit for caring for us day and night. Managing the household even when she really cannot. Worrying about the finances when in fact there is nothing to worry about, she is becoming senile and shows her curious nature, asking questions about everything around, all the time, which is often irritating. Feeling lonely, because all her married sons and daughters cannot help her, because they have their own family commitments.

What a terrible old age??? Waiting all the time for death!!

IS this her destiny?