Things I Love about Mom

Mom always gets up before the sun. In fact, I can’t remember a single day as a kid that I went downstairs to find mom still in bed. Most days, she’d been up for hours. By the time I barged into the kitchen island demanding my feast for the morning, she’d already prepared every meal of the day, stuffed the washing machine, replied to each one of her ‘Good Morning’ texts on WhatsApp, mentally planned her next home project, and devoured four cups of chai. Despite my eye rolls every day, I love how she bounces from task to task like the world depends on it. Well, we definitely do. And doesn’t that kinda mean that her world depends on it?

Last month, our daily grocer from the past 4 years, shifted his shop to the other end of town. “He should have told me. How can he just shift his shop one fine day?” There are at least 5 other grocers just on the same road as ours but I cannot put into words how devastated mom was, her reaction would have truly made anyone believe that someone had betrayed her and left her abandoned and homeless. I love how mom gets attached to the smallest of things in life when most of us wouldn’t have given them a second thought.

Every single day, mom has to yell at me at least 7 times to clean my room and take a shower. Over the years, she has also figured out cool deals to make me do so. “I’ll give you something nice to eat if you clear your bed.” “I’ll help you write your project if you take a bath immediately.” I love how every moment of every day, she knows exactly what I need. We quarrel a lot. Over the smallest things.  But at the end of the day, she will always come by my room with a perfect cup of coffee because she knows I can’t survive without it. Sometimes dad will randomly hint to her that he is craving samosas or pakoras, and bam, she’ll have them ready in no time.

You know how kids have the capability of bursting into tears with wide watery puppy eyes when they need to guilt adults into doing something for them? Well turns out, my mom still retains that ability and does not refrain from using it in every situation or argument, ever. I love how her eyes well up and her nose becomes a shade of scarlet red every time she is mad at any of us, or if Cherry is about to go back to hostel. I love how sensitive and emotional she is.

When something good happens in the family, mom goes to the temple. When something bad happens, she goes to the temple. I am not a believer of God but I love mom’s faith. I love how optimistic she is. I love how she never gives up hope.

50 years later and there is nothing I would change about her. Mom, thanks for constantly nagging me to come cuddle with you, for watching all my favourite tv shows just so that you can discuss them with me and for cooking pasta for my friends because that’s mainly the only reason why I even have friends. Thanks for being a loving mom and an amazing friend at the same time. Thank you for being the incredible woman you are, for you are everything I aspire to be.