Masum Billah :
Mother’ is the sweetest of all words in the whole universe. Mother is the direct heavenly wealth and nobody in the world can be compared with her. Mother’s love for her children is unfathomable, purest of the pure. No touch of artificiality lies here. When we become sick just a gentle touch of our mother heals more than half of our pain. She is a natural doctor. When we stay far away from our home we remain anxious to see something that is our mother’s face. Our mother cannot sleep when we are sick or remain away from home as she cannot bear the pains of our absence. All these are the pictures, features, and cultures go with the mothers of the world irrespective of geographical boundaries, caste and creed. Still the bond between the mother and children has been the strictest one in Asian countries. With the growing of civilization and materialistic development, the western people have seen a gap between this natural bond. Going against nature means inviting one’s own dooms. They have been hungry enough for motherly love which has convinced them to observe a formal day called ‘Mother’s Day’. In the United States ‘Mother’s Day is observed on the second Sunday in May every year and the day is a annual holiday. They observe the day to strengthen motherly ties and recognize the positive contribution of the mothers in the society. Can we think of any contribution of mother which goes beyond positive?
Mothers cannot talk loudly to their children in these developed countries in the name of children’s rights. If they do so, the wards can go to the court to sue again their mothers. Peculiar is the creation of human laws and society indeed! Is there any court or law in the whole universe which is safer than the love and lap of a mother?
They wanted to be smart enough which has given them these peculiar rights to their children who now don’t hesitate to even shoot their parents. We cannot afford to appreciate this law and culture. We place our mother just after God. We are not hungry for motherly love. Our mothers give us more than enough. I have seen with my own eyes that a renowned university professor does not smoke before his mother.
What we see in our society sons live in extreme poverty but they never leave their mother. They leave no stone unturned to see the smile on her face which is invaluable and the mental satisfaction it gives cannot be obtained by anything in the world. The westerners have developed ‘ old home’ to keep their mothers there , to die there without love and son and daughter’s care, and without meeting the near and dear ones. Whereas these mothers did everything and scarified many things more than usual sense of the term of sacrifice for the sake of their children. They have vast worldly and material wealth but they are extremely poor. As soon as a child is born to a mother she forgets all of her individual comfort and peace. Her prime objective then becomes how to bring up her child with utmost care. She cares the child more than a professional nurse and this nursing can just be taught by Nature Herself.
Several days back one picture of an English daily drew probably all the readers’ attention. A day labourer of Pirojpur district was seen carrying his aged mother to Upaliza hospital in basket on his head as no transport was available in that remotest part . The distance of the hospital from his home is seven miles. This great man does this practice very frequently as his mother gets sick very often at her old age. This is mother.
This is love. This mother -son relationship. Nothing in the world can explain it. No explanation works here. This our culture. This our pride, this is our wealth. This day labourer represents our culture putting shame into the faces of these gentlemen who have wealth but keep their mothers in the ‘Old Homes’. We are very rich here.
Really we are rich. We know how Ishwar Chandra Biddiyasagar responded to the call of his mother ignoring the wreath of the foul weather and cruel waves of the Damodor river. He crossed the river just seeing before his mind’s eyes the picture of his mother. He went to his mother at any cost. This is our pride. So, why just one day a mother day in our society? Every day is our mother’s day. Every moment is our mother’s day.
Recently we have seen the establishment of ‘ Old Home’ in our country in the image of western society to keep our mothers there whose so-called established sons are rich, busy and influenced by western artificial culture. We don’t; want to see it. A recent trend of small and nuclear families in urban areas has developed that mothers get neglected because of the clash of interest and whim of some so-called modern wives. I fervently request these wives and their wife-dominated husbands not to import any alien culture which teaches us to ignore our mothers. When your mother is in your home, just think the heaven is your home.
Also remember that you yourself is rushing towards old age. How will you feel when your children behave the same with you? In recent times some Indian films reflect some sorties which show mothers are neglected by sons. We should not show these movies in our country. The authorities concerned are requested to ban these kind of movies in this land.
We know Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s short story ‘ A Mother in Mannville’ where Jerry told a series of lies to the authoress as he smelt the feeling of love in the her.Jerry has been hungry for long for motherly love . He created an imaginary picture of ‘ Mannville just to satisfy his hugner for motherly love . He says about his imaginary mother thus, ” She comes up here from Mannville whenever she can. She gave me a puppy. She gave me the gloves which I let other boys use. She doesn’t have job now etc.” When Jerry learnt that the authoress would leave the orphanage, he also left it without telling anybody as he could not bear the pain of separation from the authoress. He discovered a mother in her. This story shows the universal appeal of mother which is not less in western society as well. But today they have discovered that this tie has been slackened and so they have once again want go back to the previous practice to have the real taste of motherly affection. Anna Jarvis celebrated ‘Mother’s Day for the first time in 1907 and campaigned to make it an official holiday. We salute his concern and we salute all the mothers of the world with profound gratitude, love and honour.
(Masum Billah is Program Manager: BRAC Education Program Email: [email protected] )
