Mom’s the Word
May is the most awaited month. Its arrival means the start of summer holidays, picnics, travel plans, refreshing cool summer drinks, and savouring the king of fruits. For me, it is exceptional for two reasons. One, my mom’s birthday is in May, and second, it falls on Mother’s Day. I love to buy my mom gifts for the double celebrations, despite her constant argument that she has everything and doesn’t need anything.
The year I started working, caught up in the tight schedule of office work and meeting deadlines, I missed buying the perfect gift for her. There was no time to browse online or visit a mall or store for shopping. I still had a day to do something, so I sat down to think of some last-minute gifts I could arrange.
Surprisingly, this brainstorming exercise made me think about my mama more deeply. I realized she had plenty of clothes, handbags, and shoes of her liking. She was not very fond of jewellery or perfumes. I began thinking about her hobbies. That’s when I remembered my mother used to love fabric painting. Caught up in household chores, she hadn’t touched the paints in a long time. Being artistically inclined, my mother was also fond of penning down her thoughts and musings in couplets and short verses. Earlier, on some days, she would catch hold of me and recite some of her poems. Lately, she had stopped making me her audience.
The more I tried to recollect her past hobbies and interests, the more I discerned that my mama was giving them up one by one. This realization deeply saddened me. I understood it was necessary to help her pick up the brushes and pen again. All this introspection helped me choose her birthday and Mother’s Day gifts. I ordered a set of fabric paints, brushes, and a kit with floral designs outlined on napkins so that she could start immediately—no excuses about not having cloth pieces or not knowing what to paint.
Next, I ordered a diary with her name etched on it, along with a beautiful pen. The combo had extra pages that could be added to the diary when required. These additional pages were a subtle message for my mama—to keep writing and add more poems to her diary.
A smile lit my face. I was very sure my mother would love these gifts. They would help rekindle the artist in her. I enjoyed this exercise of thinking of various ways to bring back the good old days for my mother. Still wanting to do something more, I hit upon another brilliant idea. I wanted my mother to feel relaxed on her birthday, so I booked her a spa session. I knew she would never pamper herself, always saying it was a waste of money and time, and that she didn’t need it. But if I had already paid for the session, she would have to go—otherwise, my money would go to waste!
I laughed aloud, imagining this scene and my mother’s dilemma when I would surprise her with the spa booking.
Nonetheless, if she starts making a noise about the gifts, it won’t be easy to hear her over my loud singing of a Happy Birthday and Mother’s Day song to her!
Image Courtesy: https://www.pexels.com/@elly-fairytale/
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– Munira Dalal
About the Author:
Munira Dalal holds a B.A. in Sociology and is a respected educator with nearly two decades of experience teaching across various schools and coaching students from all boards. She is also a Level 8 trained Abacus instructor. Munira’s creative flair extends to designing greeting cards, leading to the successful launch of her brand, SHABNAM, which offers a collection of exclusive, self-designed greeting cards. Her poetry, covering diverse themes, has been widely appreciated and awarded in renowned literary forums, including Asian Literary Society, POEMarium, Prose and Poetry with January Khan, StoryScrapers, Penmancy, Poetry Planet, and Beyond The Box. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to literature, she was honored with the SAMPOORNAM MEMORIAL AWARD 2018 by the Asian Literary Society.
