The Day Of Mothers: Love, Care and Cherish

It was already 12pm and Jasmine’s school rung its last bell for the day. All the students peacefully evacuated the school in the supervision of teachers. It was the month of a heating May, mothers and fathers were standing taking an umbrella waiting for their wards to come out of the school gate. Jasmine was in 7th grade now, and her house was at 5 minutes walk able distance from the school.

“They taught us about mother’s day today!” exclaimed one of her batch mate to his mother and Jasmine couldn’t help but smile to herself. There were two lanes that passed by parallel; one would take her to her home in just 5 minutes while the other one would first cross the market before taking her to the familiar place called – home. It was quite unusual that today, instead of taking the shorter route jasmine happily opted for the longer one.

‘’How fascinating the market is” – she recalled her mom’s words, there usually Sunday outing was this market where her mother would buy clothes, footwear, accessories for Jasmine and herself. She tapped the first pocket of her bag and felt some chillers. As she was moving ahead, a man standing with a board acquired with tiny earrings caught her attention. She paced faster and reached as close as she could to the board.

“How much is it for?” – She asked hesitantly.

“Rs.10/- bitiya.” – The man replied.

She quickly scanned through the designs, pearl, diamond, gold and silver plated… And then one blue earring caught her attention. She asked him to pack it while she was counting on her rupees. She gave 10 rupees to him and was elated for being able to gift those earrings. As she was going through the market, she also came across an old lady who was selling flowers, roses to be particular.  She knew what to do next, a single rose could have costed 5 rupees and she had 10 rupees more. Jasmine was running out of time because she had to reach early or else her elder sister would end up worrying.

Within 10 minutes of walk, Jasmine was standing right in front of the door, ringing the bell. The door was opened by her sister – Manali

“Why are you so late? Football practice?” Manali asked while letting her get inside. Jasmine nodded keeping her bag on the sofa and carefully taking out the rose making its way to the kitchen while Manali was busy in locking the door. Without wasting much time, Manali then brought food from the kitchen and asked Jasmine to sit.

“It is delicious di..” grinned Jasmine.

“Thank you baby doll, so tell me how your day was?” asked Manali in excitement.

“It was fantastic di…” and the rest of the chat continued about the day. Once the lunch was finished, Manali took all the plates and washed them thoroughly while Jasmine was observing her carefully. While Manali worked in the kitchen, it was Jasmine’s habit to sit around her and talk about different things. That was the place where most of philosophical classes of Jasmine were taken by Manali. Soon, Manali prepared Jasmine for her afternoon nap so that she can recover her energy.

The half of the day was over, and it was evening when Jasmine woke up and hugged her sister for no reason.

“Come to the drawing room, the milk is ready” said Manali while leaving the room – “we will be studying once daddy comes home.” She added and Jasmine nodded with a smile. She came to the living room and stood in front of the TV set, “Jasmine, come sit here. Your eyes would suffer if you watch TV from there.” – Yelled Manali and Jasmine sat on the sofa right beside Manali who was having coffee. The bell rang and Jasmine opened the door. Jasmine’s grin was enough to say that it is her father who has finally arrived from his office.

“Hello beta! How was your day?” – He asked picking up Jasmine in his arms and planting a kiss on her cheek. Their usual talks about the day began followed with the dinner which was deliciously cooked by her sister. The three of them sat on the dining table while Manali brought a plate from kitchen and handed it over to Jasmine.

“Take it to mom – it’s a mother’s day today. She loves custard like you” Manali said.

Jasmine took the plate and placed it on the table, which was alongside of a wall where her mother’s photo was placed with a garland across.

“Happy mother’s day mom!” – whispered Jasmine looking at the photograph with a grin.

She came back and joined the dining table and had her supper with dad and Manali. Soon the clock stroke at 10 and it was the time for Jasmine to go off to her bed so that she can wake up early tomorrow for school. Her dad picked her up and took her to the bed, with a story book in his hand and a glass of milk; he carried Jasmine to the bed. Jasmine loved listening to the stories especially the ones that would have a princess and a prince. She had a collection of story books gifted by her mom on her 4th birthday. Soon her dad began to narrate the story about an honest man of the village, but within half an hour he found Jasmine was fast asleep. He smiled to himself and kissed her forehead adjusting her pillow and blanket before switching off the table lamp.

Now, it was midnight, both Manali and her father was sitting in the living room with their laptops in order to complete the assignments which they’ve got from their offices.

“Dad…” – Jasmine was standing in the living room.

“Jasmine, you didn’t sleep baby?” Manali said closing her laptop.

“Well, I forgot to give something” – she said in an innocent tone.

“What is it baby?” her dad asked.

“She came closer to both of them as they were sitting beside each other. Here are flowers for you dad and earring for you di.” – Jasmine gave those flowers and earrings to her dad and sister.

“These are pretty! But what’re they for today Jasmine?” her dad asked in a concerned tone.

“Oh and here is the greeting for both of you, Happy Mother’s day. I thought whatever roles that a mom could play and plays, are played by you both too and so this is a small gesture from my side for you both.”

She handed over the greeting to them with a smiling face and recollecting what her teacher had taught her today about the mother’s day.

Mother is not just a relation that bonds a child with his or her mom rather it is beyond it that a mother takes. The term – Mother- shouldn’t be concerned to gender because for those who don’t have mothers, have it in the form of their sister(s) or father. A mother is a person who loves you unconditionally, takes your care and with you every single moment, that’s a bit, rest can’t be expressed in words, you know that, you feel and cheer it every moment; it could be your father, your brother and your sister too, who loves you more than you do.

This article has been written by Shweta Suvarna.