My Mom'S The Ultimate
My Mom'S The Ultimate
My mom is not a working woman, but she is more than that , she is a 24/7 home maker. She has work all the 24 hours a day, and all seven days a week, there seems to be no Saturday or Sunday to her, no holiday written in her life. She has full fledged work everyday and she never gets tensed up and manages to do all with ease. Every morning when she gets up, many chores are piled up like preparing food, cleaning the house, making me ready to school, sending my dad to office, washing utensils , washing clothes and so on, the list just continues. There is only addition and multiplication of her daily chores and no subtraction or division. From her looks I can make out that the daily work gives her immense satisfaction and at the end when all her work is done she is the most contended lady in this world, the contentment which a working woman never finds in her job. Her eyes just glow bright and shiny after a hectic day's schedule. The work keeps her on her toes, and she takes charge of it and completes in her own unique fashion.
Mondays are busy for her, as she has to cook breakfast and lunch both for me and dad, breakfast to have at home and lunch for having in school/office. Unlike many others who prefer having cornflakes, milk , fruits for breakfast, as it does not consume much time, my mother is an exception.
She would have prepared the batter with rice, urad dal, rice flakes and fenugreek seeds the previous day itself, and in the morning she prepares yummy light brown dosas and steaming idlis. The sides for this would be coconut chutney and sambhar for idly. The food prepared by my mom is so very tasty that I just gobble it down and I feel that I am lucky enough to have so good food and indeed very lucky to have such a care taking mom, then I have thoughts flowing in my mind like, I must have done some good things in my previous birth that I am experiencing the results in this birth. After my mother sends off both of us, her next phase of work begins at home like cleaning utensils and washing clothes. She always keeps a gleaming kitchen far away from dust and dirt. The clothes she washes are so clean and sparkling bright that it looks like we have just purchased it.
Then slowly follows Tuesdays, the food time table for Tuesday is Akki Roti, its a blend of rice flour, jeera, salt , green chilles, chopped onions, grated carrot and coconut, coriander leaves, curry leaves. The ingredients in itself makes our mouths water, the rotis which she makes have a splendid taste and I eat till my stomach is fully satisfied. Tuesdays are the days when she dusts the entire house, no speck of dirt is found to be seen, and when the sunlight makes it way inside the house, the entire house just sparkles. She then offers her prayers to the god and godesses with colourful flowers and its a treat for eyes to watch the pooja room. She lights the diya and agarbatti and the fragrance fills the entire house and the balcony too. Even the people walking near our gate can smell the fragrance and they have a feeling that they have come to an auspicious abode.
Wednesdys the middle day follows silently, the food time table for Wednesday being Poori or Chapatti, made from wheat. My mom prepares many curries as side dishes, the most delicious ones being dal curry, vegetable curry, aloo curry, peas curry, tomato chutney etc. the list just continues and adds on. Me the so called “Privileged” one is thankful for the almighty for such an amazing food. After that we go to our respective destinations, and my mom remains in her own destination the SWEET HOME. Wednesday is the day when its the turn for the floor and tiles to shine, my mom mops the entire house with Water and Phenyl and keeps it dirt free and also far from infections.
Then comes the chaos Thursday, as the environment is filled with tension and chaos. The food time table for Thursday being Upma. It is a food prepared from So
oji Rava (or Rawa). Addition of chillies and vegetables makes it spicy and rich in vitamins and proteins, also by sprinkling few lemon drops gives it a tangy taste and also is rich in Vitamin C. It makes a yummy Thursday morning. After we depart my mom's work schedule continues. She cleans all the oil containers which are very sticky. She immerses it in hot water and adds a spoon of detergent powder, she then cleans it till they glitter and are shiny , she then dries it in the hot after noon sun and makes them as new ones as if they were just purchased from the shop.
Then comes the enthusiastic Friday, enthusiastic because its the last working day for us. The food in the time table being Lemon rice, which is a mixture of rice, chillies, lemon and grated coconut and coriander sprinkled on it. Its a dish rich in Vitamin C, its tangy and yummy and spicy and when the three ingridients i.e. salt , chillies and lemon juice are put in correct proportions, it becomes one of the typical south indian awesome dishes. It's easy to prepare and with ultimate taste. My mother then performs Lakshmi Pooja as its Friday, the auspicious day for goddess Lakshmi. She then removes the weeds and other unnecessary plants from the Garden. She also plucks flowers for her Pooja. She dries all the clothes and folds them and does the ironing of my school uniforms and my father's shirts. She carefully puts them into hangers and place them in the wadrobe.
Then comes the lazy Saturday, a day when we get up very late as we do not have any academic or official commitments. But for my mom, its a working day. A working Saturday, an usual day as always. She helps me with taking my head bath. She applies castor oil on my head and rubs so that it will relieve me of the body heat and then with hot water and shampoo she helps me in cleaning my head. Oh forgot, the reciepe on Saturday's list is Poha, the Poha is our every Saturday's dish.
It's made from Rice Flakes, chillies, lemon juice, onions and ground nuts. With curds it's one of my all time favorite relishing dishes. My mother has many other chores to complete, like cleaning, washing , moping and so on.
Then comes the excited Sunday, a day we are all very excited about. As usual it's a working Sunday for my mom, she is cutting vegetables for our favourite dish 'BISI BELE BATH'. It's a blend of dal, rice, vegetables, spices and tangy tamarind juice. It just melts as soon as we keep in our mouths, the aroma spreads the whole house, and even my sleepy dad wakes up by the spicy aroma of BISI BELE BATH. As we are all at home my mom prepares lots of other dishes, and we are all very excited, but my poor mom, she does not have a rest day, the week is over and yet another week starts and her routine work continues. I pray to god to give my mom all the happiness in this world which she would cherish for a long time. Blessed am I to get such a wonderful and care taking mom. Like a working woman balances her personal life and work life in almost a similar fashion my mom balances her different house hold works, she takes care of the well being of family members, keeps the house tidy, looks after my grandparents, looks after the guests who come to my home. She does so many things parallely that its a treat to watch her. I am indeed blessed to have a mom like this. This is my part of the story and I know each one of us will have their own story to tell about their mothers, so it's our responsibility to take care of our parents when they are in need. She is a 24/7 home maker who gets no pay for the work she does. How to pay her back? I have taken an oath that I would help my mother daily and look after her well. This is the gratitude which I can pay to her. For the one who has dedicated herself for her family.