Happy Mother’s day : Are we doing enough for them?

Richesh Dutt

This lockdown with no maid, cook, or cleaner made me realize one thing: How severely wrong is the question we seldom ask our mother “Din bhar aakhir karti kya ho? Or Aaj fir khaane mei vahi?”. Although no words can describe this unconditional love and service they shower upon us, and even trying to describe that would be an insult to every mother out there, yet here I am to express my gratitude in however timid way I could.

Each year globally we spend approx. $30 Billion celebrating Mother’s Day. So clearly, we are remembering our mothers. Yet each year we face the same questions: what should I get Mumma this year? If you too want to make her feel special but are struck, here’s an idea of 3R’s: Relieve, Reassure, Remember. Relieve her of her duties for a day; Reassure her with your words; Remember something she loves. Idea is to make her feel special not pricey. She knows what your pocket holds, but she yearns for what your heart may contain.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against any kind of gifts or celebration but all this just for a day? Especially in a country like India, where a highly successful businesswoman sacrifices her career for her child, or a poor woman taking up odd chores to sustain her child. Where a woman’s sole purpose of life shifts to proper nurture of her child and her only happiness becomes that child.

Her entire world suddenly contracts in that child. But in this era of competitive and ambitious world, we as sons and daughters often tend to leave family behind in search of better opportunities. So, are we doing enough on our end to make them feel special and loved each day?

Is this day a reminder of that or just a compensation for remaining 364 days? Have we really understood motherhood, and as a society what have we done for the most wonderful creation of God? We may respect and love our mother, but are we grateful and respectful to all the women around us? As a society where do we stand on these parameters?

I can’t think of any group of people more selfless and loving than mothers. But this celebration of motherhood is also hypocritical: For all our rhetoric, we routinely fail mothers around the world. On this Mother’s Day, if it’s like an average day, another 830 women will die around the globe from pregnancy or childbirth. That’s one woman dying every two minutes.

Indeed, in much of the world, just about the most dangerous thing a woman can do is become pregnant. Even if lucky enough to deliver a healthy baby, there is again social stigma for working woman to leave job or be called selfish to leave babies to day care. To find balance between family responsibility and work. Still today, 35% women in India don’t return to jobs after childbirth. That might have been your mother too.

So yes, may be a gift would suffice to celebrate but changing individual mindset, could definitely be the next step in strengthening the future societal mentality and will definitely lead us a long way to secure futures of our sisters and daughters and their motherhood and to not ask more sacrifices than they already do to become the best mother in their capacity.

So this mother’s day, let’s not just celebrate but also pledge to not be just proud of these motherly sacrifices but to change ourselves so as to reduce their sacrifices. This is the least we owe to the feeling we get, when in darkest of times we hear that voice, “Everything will be ok baby, Mummy is here for you”