2nd of July...

I know I have talked a lot about my dad on this blog like in this post for example. But today, I want to talk about my mom (ma) who I had been missing a lot, especially since my accident (when I just wanted to be home). For the record, I didn’t tell her about it, because she freaks out easily.

I have always been a daddy’s girl; ALWAYS! He was the one who spoilt me, while my mom only seemed to make me do stuff I DIDN’T want to (studying, swimming classes, dancing lessons: all of which interfered with my wild, 2-hour games with the neighbourhood kids in the evening). So while I tried to spend more time with my dad (and less with mom) and picked up his interests (sports/reading/history), my mom was always in the background, making sure I was well-taken care of- something I took for granted.

So this post is for her, for ma…

She represents determination: For someone who got married at 23 and had a kid by 25, she had enough grit to continue studying and finish her Masters, B.Ed and PhD while I cried incessantly in the background…

She represents passion: My dad wanted to teach history and philosophy, but he ended up in the corporate jungle, raising money and arguing with bankers. I want to be a writer, but I am still stuck making jazzy presentations and writing research reports in a MNC. My mom wanted to be a teacher, and she became one. She had the courage to say ‘no' and courage to give up a research fellowship in Philadelphia because she wanted to teach, and teach in the institute where she had studied. Among the three of us, she is the one who LOVES her work, and hence it’s not just a JOB…

She represents strength: Growing up, we never had much money; in fact not even enough money. But she never complained. I had never heard my parents argue about money, though they fought over sillier things. Irrespective of how little my dad brought home, she always made it seem plenty and keep us happy. So today, when people say I am a miser, I take it as a compliment, because my mom taught me to value money. If the vendor 2 kms away sold stuff for two bucks less, we would rather walk the extra 2 kms and save the extra two bucks…

She represents sheer Math genius: My dad may be the C.A. of the family, but my mom is the math whiz. She picked up double-entry accounting from my dad faster than I could manage journal entries in two years of my MBA, and even now, whenever we travel together (latest being Turkey), she is the treasurer who keeps all the hisaab and does currency conversions faster than I can count my fingers. So yea, dad may be doing fancy WACC calculations and QIP issues for his company, but my mom does the REAL stuff…

She represents courage: I remember a few years back, on this very day (July 2nd) when I came home with 64% in my 12th standard boards, she never scolded me. She realized I had a made a bad choice (the first of my MANY bad choices) by taking up Science in the 12th, and while my engineering entrance exam scores and board exam marks practically ended my "dream career" (to become an IT engineer), she encouraged me take up Economics and then do my MBA, even though nobody in my family had any clue about it. She was selfless enough to let go of her only child as a teenager, even though my dad was scared and reluctant. And she never wanted me to repeat her mistakes (getting married without being independent being one of them)…

And, oh, did I mention, she is absolutely GORGEOUS...

Oh, July 2 also happens to be my parents’ anniversary…