A promise from God

Recently, one desperate mother lodged a complaint with the police that her five-month-old baby was abducted from a footpath she was living on. She was an alms seeker and had no place for the safekeeping of her baby.

Despite being so helpless and so economically backward, she fought tooth and nail with the world — the world where traffickers abound, where babies are stolen and sold. Thankfully, her DNA matched with the baby she claimed as her own among the four infants traced by the police. The blood samples were drawn in the presence of a magistrate and a DNA test was conducted.

This real-life story proves that despite not being aware of any legal process or not being in a position to engage a lawyer, a mother, though she may be just an alms seeker, will not let go of her baby under any circumstances.

The motherly instinct and love for progeny is so natural and universal; I saw an example recently in my own garden.

I have been seeing a sparrow build its nest in various places in our garden, only to find its eggs and tiny fledglings being stolen and eaten away by a crow. Every time seeing that happen, I used to feel helplessly frustrated at the mother bird’s plight and her screeches of anguish.

Then, one day, I saw the bird find a very secure place to build its nest and protect her babies — right behind Maa Durga’s idol hung high up on the wall near our main door. The crow tried desperately to reach the nest but failed miserably. Now, I hear tiny voices chirping in the nest above and see the mother proudly flying in and out.

A mother’s instincts are the strongest, and her love for her offspring, the greatest! On the other side of the picture is the uncaring attitude of some children toward their mothers. I remember the case of an aged mother who lost her eyesight due to neglected high blood glucose levels over a long time and how her children would lock her up in the house to go to work, only to return late in the evening or night. They wanted to get the good name that instead of keeping their mother in a facility or an old age home, they had kept her in the house.

Is this any better than being in an old age home, where probably better care could have been provided to that blind mother and some human contact and interaction could take place? Why do children feel burdened to take care of their ageing mothers? It is said, “A mother is a promise from God that you will have a friend forever,” then why treat her like an adversary in her sunset years? Fie upon such children.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald

Ambika Ananth
© Ambika Ananth 2022

About the Author

Ambika Ananth is a bi-lingual poet, published author, translator and independent journalist. She lives in Bangalore, India. She is one of the Founder Editors of a literary ezine -Muse India. (www.museindia.com) and can be reached at ambika.ananth@gmail.com