One hundred years from now...

One hundred years from now....

This all began with the most incredible woman in my life- You, Vinnie Dev..who I have the incredible good fortune, to call my Mom:-) After the happiest, warmest, most warm and secure childhood, where you taught me the richness of unconditional love and support, the importance of holding a family together with bonds of Trust and Faith interlaced with all the love one has in one's heart to give... I can truthfully accept that I too hold the very same place in my children's hearts that you hold in mine. I love you, mom:-)

One hundred years from now- it won't matter what car I sat in, how many designer clothes I wore..
It won't matter how big a house I lived in, or how much I had in my bank account.
Nor how many friends I thought I had, how many suitors, or those that liked me..
It won't matter how many times I was told how good I looked, or how sweetly I spoke..
All that will matter, will be a world that looks beautiful and always right-side-up..
Because I was important in the lives of my children:-)

This is for you two- Aanchal and Saahil- whom I carried in my womb for nine ecstatic months, and will carry in my heart for ever and a day!
This is also for you, Shalu- whom I did not share the bond that began with an umbilical cord, but yet built the citadel of love, trust and friendship, which is all the more precious to me, because we built it ourselves, Rajiv, Aanchal, Saahil, you and I together.

This Mother's Day-I want to thank all three of you for being there in my life, and for letting me be part of yours. Someone said-it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you have a baby. That someone sure didn't know that once you have become a "mother", being "normal" is history. They said being a mother is boring at times. They probably didn't have a madcap son escaping from back doors of loos in the wee hours of the night, or calls from Principals in the middle of busy days of the same child vanishing from school and being found in vast empty fields, adorned with empty beer bottles:-) A big Thank you to you, my Brat:-)

They said-you can never love any child as much as your own flesh and blood. They probably didn't have a delightful, caring, lovely daughter like you, Shalu:-)

They said your first born is always the centre of your existence, your heart and soul, always part of every breath you take, every beat of your heart. This time, they were right! They probably had met you, Aanchal:-)

Then they said, a mother stops worrying after her daughter gets married. They definitely didn't know that marriage just adds a new son to the mother's heart-strings:-) Try and free yourself if you can, Gourav:-)

They would never have dreamt that there exists yet another dimension to maternity. That the father of these children would enrich the experience of being an eternal mother. Of someone that just doesn't grow up!! Thank you, Rajiv- for always being a constant source of reminders of all the pranks, all the fun, all the irresponsibilities, that are such a precious part of my children's childhood, before they grew up.

I know all three of you have grown up today:-) Yes- you too, Brat:-) The gap between asking where you came from, to refuse to tell us where you are going-- makes us realize that. And makes us happy and proud. There are but two lasting legacies we can give our children. One is roots. The other-wings. . and I think I can say with truth that we have equipped you adequately with both.

So, a hundred years from now- when I smile from within the clusters of stars in the sky, from the fragrance of mogra in your balconies in the summer breeze, from the 'Oooh Ma's" in your voices as you grow and evolve, "They", who thought they knew it all, will hang their heads in dismay, for the lessons Life taught them, were just lessons after all. Not Life.

So if "they" ever whisper in your ears, my children- that your mother KNOWS you love her, and you don't need to tell her... Always remember... "They" have never been a Mother:-)

Happy Mother's Day!