Feature

International Mother’s Day
Mother: The Only Universal Gift in the Universe

Asrar Chowdhury

ALAS! I am no longer on the side of the fence where the grass is green. The magic I took for granted is gone. All those familiar places and faces now flash before my eyes. It all now seems like a dream. Mother's Day for those like myself is not for one day of the year. Every day is a Mother's Day. When I walk the same path in the present that I walked in the past, each step of the journey re-tells stories I failed to notice before. And yet I want to travel the road again and again. Each time I see the past in a newer light.

I am my mother's first-born and I am a caesarean. In those days a caesarean operation meant a general anaesthesia. Soon after my birth my mother had a very high fever. The fever nearly took her life. Fortunately, she survived the battle but I was to live from thereon with the guilt that I was the cause of this narrow escape.

At the age of four, my younger sister and I accompanied my mother to the United Kingdom where my father was studying at Aberystwyth University in Wales. My father did not have a regular scholarship. My mother played the role of the breadwinner of the family by working while my father studied and took care of my sister and myself- waking us up, taking us to school, bringing us back, and cooking for us. As a child I can't recall too many days when we would wake up in the morning and see Amma (my mom). She would leave the house before dawn and return at dusk. After school when we used to watch Playschool on the BBC, my sister and I knew the bell would ring at any moment. And when it did, the two of us would dash to open the door. I can still recall those days. Amma in her navy blue raincoat and I was clinging on to Amma to smell her. Everyday there would be sweets for us. Many years later we found out Amma would sometimes save money by skipping lunch to buy our sweets.

After we returned to Bangladesh, Amma was never involved in a full time job. She wanted to give time to my sister and myself. When my mother left this material world, another mother- this time the mother of my daughter, sacrificed her career for her one-year old child. It is only now after becoming a parent myself that I realised how powerful a mother's sacrifice could be.

I could carry on sharing one story after another. My stories would be repetition because they would be the same stories of others. A mother's love for her children and her family is universal. The sacrifice a mother can make for her child and her family is also universal. It is this sacrifice we take for granted. Why should not we? A mother's love our right, isn't it? Automatic? Do we have to ask for it?

Alas! Those of us who took this birthright for granted, can only pray to be the fortunate ones to celebrate the International Mother's Day each year. A day that reminds us to look back to make our moving forward meaningful. Even if it is just a simple thanks, we should take time out to express our gratitude towards our mothers for the sacrifices they make for us 'automatically' if not for anything else. When the day comes you reach this side of the fence, you will appreciate the presence of your mother even more in her absence. May the Heavens Bless All Mothers! Happy Mother's Day!

(The writer teaches economics at Jahangirnagar, and North South Universities)