my mother and her unusual acquaintances

To me she is very shy, moody,easily irritated by noise,can barely cross the road without any help,always trying to teach me how to save my money (and not become a shopoholic like my father),someone who i get into pillow fights with even today,someone who gets worked up about everything and blows the smallest of things out of proportion,someone who will not let anyone including my father give me crap even though its my fault.shes fiercely protective and the only person i know who respects everyone,young or old.(funny how none of this rubbed off on me)shes the most innocent person i ve come across in terms of anything to do with anything outside of her workspace or home.

i ve never known her to have friends who drop by home or call her.she's unlike many women i know in the sense,she detests shopping,she hates talking on the phone,she is not talkative at all,barely talks trash about anyone.most times she spends her time at home watching tv,and anyone watching her can easily say her minds elsewhere.she just gazes blankly at the screen.her entire life has been about her work or her family(mostly my father and me).

my mother has a school in my town which she started in the year1989,with around 30 students and today she has over 1500 students and i can proudly say she did it mostly by herself with help from my father.
her acquaintances range from the towns mayor or the district collectors wife to the basic help.but the basic help are the ones she s closer to as she is alone for most of her time as i ve always gone to a boarding school and my father is out at work.she sits and listens to their problems and advices them on what they should do and sometimes i think she even confides in them more than she confides in her other well to do friends.its like she has no human contact outside of her workspace,and they are the only ones there.at first i think she liked the loneliness,she was never social,but now i think all that loneliness did catch up with her.that even the most irrelevant ordinary conversation she has with anybody lightens up her day. she knows every student by name and their parents by name.i ve never known much about her school or how she runs it.all i know is my parents are the most hardworking people i ve ever met in my life.all this hasnt come easily to them.this one fact i m extremely proud of-the fact that what they are today is not a bonus from their parents.they started from scratch and what they have managed to acheive is mind boggling(they have had a love marriage without the approval of their parents,hence the start from nothing.a common occurence around their time).their success story is one i d want to write a book about at some point if i have the means to do so.

so there i was sitting in my mothers office(yes!she works even during the holidays).i barely go visit her.but this one time,she was complaining about my father as she always does as she thinks i am the only one my father ever listens to.this woman walks in.

mother-what do you want?
visitor-madam.i came to give you the money.
mother-what money?
visitor-my sons fee.
mother-why didnt you come when the office staff was here,so the accounts section could give you a receipt?
visitor-i couldnt come in the morning as i had to take care of the deliveries to to all my customers and bring the herd back home.
mother-okay.give it to me, i ll go find the receipt book and write it myself.

all this while i had my back to the lady,then my mum asked her to come in front and take a look at me and see how much her daughter had grown.thats when i got a good look at her.i see this meek woman,extremely smalll built,she looked so tired,weathered by everything life threw at her.she had sad eyes.but when she smiled at me,it was a sight to see!she was amazed at how much i grew and she asked me when i am going to bulid a hospita so i can treat her for free:)

this visitor is my milkmaid.i should add,that in my mothers school,her students range from the upper class families whose parents are the local politicians to the scholarship students she takes in every year.

the visitor is carrying a steel box out of which she takes out bundles of money,lots of change put into bundles,mostly 10/20 rs notes adding upto some 15 grand.she adds-i ve been saving this money with my sister for a while,so i thought i ll come and give it to you personally before my husband or my sons spend the money.

she starts filling my mum in with all the details of her household and her neighbours,about the neighbour who hung himself leaving behind a 3 year old daughter to how one of those land-grabbing corporate fellows asked her to vacate her house for a mere 2 lakh rupees,to which she proudly tells my mum-i chased them away telling them this is my land and i ve been living here for 50 years now.in the course of the conversation i am informed that she has 3 sons of which two are cardrivers,and her youngest,a john paul is studying in my mothers school and how she wants atleast one son to become an engineer and land a government job unlike his brothers.she also tells me she has 30 buffaloes and 10 cows.and she informs my mum that she will pay the coming terms fee a little late as she is plannin on acquiring a new buffalo and also build a new house.

once she leaves with her receipt in hand.i ask my mother why she even makes the poor lady pay as she has to go through so much trouble.to which my mother replies that she has tried to tell the poor lady countless times that she will take her son in under a scholarship programme to which the lady promptly refused saying it is against her values and self-respect and that she is working hard to make atleast one of her children educated and she s going to pay for it herself and that she doesnt need anyones sympathy.

what touched me the most is the fact that there is no disparity.she probably delivers milk to many of her sons classmates/friends houses.but the fact that all of them are able to co-exist and be friends and study together under one roof without class disparities.but again that is the beauty of childhood.you dont face the ugly side of the world,where its about how much money you have or what your parents do for a living. But the friend you are.the fact that such a small woman held so much self-respect and strength to take everything life threw at her,and is still content with her herd of cows ans buffaloes and her business.stuff like this makes you wonder what if i didnt throw away all that money on that pair of shoes or that dress,maybe i could have paid a childs school fee.

people like this make you want to believe nothing is impossible to reach,nothing is only a dream that never came true.no matter how big or how small,self-respect is all you need to reach that goal,to be that one to reach the sky.nothing is so far out as long as you can have a dream to reach for it..

my mother,whom i have never known in this light,my mother whom i am so immensely proud of is giving those kids an oppurtunity to shine.shine they will.fingers crossed.