In fact, it didn’t occur to me until I saw our favourite Independent
Book store, Funky Rainbow's FB post
on the upcoming “Saturday morning live” Buzzaar with Mother’s day theme, titled
“Mum’s the word”! Having moved to my parents’ farm in Dharmasthala over two
weeks ago, I got to watch the weekly book recommendations revolving around
mothers at the Book Buzzaar with my mother on the eve of mother’s day, and this
was indeed special. As is the norm, the second half of Book Buzzaar featured a
chat with Dr. Tanu Shree Singh, author, psychology professor, founder of FB
group Reading Raccoons, a bibliophile who owns and supports many libraries in
Faridabad and Himachal Pradesh (How we would love to visit a library in the
hills!) Dr. Tanu Shree Singh drew out words of wisdom from her experience and
her book “Keep calm and Mommy on” which was felt like a soothing balm on the
harried and hassled minds of mothers who are trying hard to keep it together and
retain their sanity especially in these troubled times, and frankly, we couldn’t
have asked for a better mothers’ day present! There were a lot of takeaways from
the interesting conversation between the unstoppable Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow
who is fondly known as Editoramma and Dr Tanu Shree Singh who was spoke from her
professional and personal experience as a mother of two, including how it is
impossible and unreal to live up to the expectation of a “supermom” and not to
stress too much on excelling as parents as it is an evolving journey with its
own highs and lows, laughs and cries, and the key being keeping the line of
communication open. No matter what, its never too late to sit back, reset and
reboot….and to mommy on..!
Its also true that we end up empathising with our
mothers a lot more than before after having becomes moms ourselves. There may
have been times during my own turbulent teen years, (which I swear, was nothing
compared to what I am going through now with my teenage son) when I’d sworn
never to follow my mom on certain irritant aspects of her parenting approach,
only to realise that I have unknowingly turned into my mom on those very
aspects! So no matter how old you are…..moms always get to say with glee “I told
you so!” 😊
This year’s mother’s day has been special in the sense that I have
been able to spend quality time with her in her unhurried world of nature walks,
gardening, reading, online shopping, chanting of shlokas in the evening and of
course dishing out delicious ‘oota from our thota” not only for our brood but
also for our large farm family (including our farm workers!) Thank you amma for
having us over!
On the occasion of Mother’s day, amongst various recommendations from Funky
Rainbow, we read “A Saree for Ammi” a Tulika publication by
Mamta Nainy and pictures by Sandhya Prabhat. As always,
Tulika brings wonderfully nuanced stories from various corners of India
showcasing the unique cultural milieu of the place and it people brought out in
the story and its characters. This vibrantly illustrated Tulika story comes from
a family of weavers in Kota, Rajasthan. Narrated in first person, a little girl
watches her mother weave the most beautiful sarees and sell them in the local
haat (marketplace) but never don any of them and decides to find out why. The
innocent little girl that she is, she is left puzzled with her mother’s reply
“If we keep sarees, how will we eat?” So she persuades her sister Sadaf
to help her gift their Ammi a sari which had taken Ammi almost a month to weave.
From breaking open their gullaks (piggy-banks) to doing odd jobs for Amina
Khala, read on as the siblings embark on their heart-warming adventure to fund
their special gesture for their loving Ammi! A touching tribute to a child’s
love for their hard working mother, beautifully complemented by the
illustrations that bring alive the bright hues and designs of the handloom
weaves, and vividly portray the environment, community life and culture of the
traditional weaving community life in Rajasthan ...... making it a delightful
read on Mother’s day! Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers!
No comments:
Post a Comment