So it’s mother’s day and I need to post something. I already have posted a darker story here just in case you people are interested in darker fiction or something :)Now for some real stuff. Okay so lets go.

This is a story of four sisters. All very different. Yet very lovable, fighting crying and generally frolicking together. The key is together. Lets just say suddenly very suddenly one sister goes to heaven for a vacation. She doesn’t really like the life on earth (who does?) and God is kind to better souls so they strike a deal and pushes off to lala land. Now she is not very happy about it but then she knows that she has her three sisters to take care of her issues(read kids) here on earth.

Cut the story short, this sister is my mother. Now the story for Happy Mother’s day is for the sisters that survived, the sisters that did the dirty job of living on this earth. The ode on this wonderful day is to them-

Youngest- Mukti Pande (a.k.a Binni mausi)

She is my any time call person. You need a fashion tip, a marriage life tip or general gossip she is the person to be. Funny as hell and sexy as Sushmita Sen (totally!) she is every single daughter’s wish and a son’s worst nightmare(kids dont like good looking moms!) I love her for who she is, a person who knows that when the time is right scream at the kid and when the time becomes better than right – to scream and laugh at the same time.

The one person who is always and forever is crying.

Me: “Binni mausi I have a boyfriend”
Reaction: Beta ab main kya bolun. Dekh lena, ladka achha ho.(pause) *suddenly tears* Ab tum kitni badi ho gayi ho *boohoooo*

I never have to tell her I need something, she only hears what are my problems and works around them. So this one time in college I tell her my back is paining because I dont have a desk and prompt in a week comes the new table on a truck. Big enough to not enter my room’s door 😛 😛

Happy mother’s day. My wish on 12th May is that you age gracefully and me to follow your track same to same 😀 😀

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Next in line- Jyoti Shukla (a.k.a Tinni mausi)

She was literally my mother. Literally. My parents being my parents had a love marriage and child soon after (that’s not what I would follow so chill!). They had time for love but no time for love in marriage. So they would drop me off to nani’s place and off they went shopping, tripping all over city.

Poor me, all of six months needed care, diaper, cleaning, cradling all the stuff babies deserve. And so all of sixteen this woman rises to be the mother to me. She would sing lulaby songs and caress me to sleep. Coax me into eating food and also allow me to spoil her final exam submissions. If
there is someone in my life who is always remembered always mentioned in my stories of childhood its her.

Till today, she would joke with me, kid around with me and when it is about drinking milk the lecture begins. She of course has forgotten that it is because of her I dont eat karela, baigan and what not- because she never ate and I used to eat with her.

Moving on, she too is a big crying tote and can shed tears down her beautiful cheeks at the drop of a hat.

Me: What’s this?
Reaction: Yeh soot hai, ladkiyan jab shaadi ke baad aati hain to unhe aise vida krte hain. Aur yeh rakho isme saree. Paise alag se denge.
Me: Are you mad? Who does this? Its like everytime you would do this I come visiting
Reaction: Chup raho. Haan bhai.

I know its more of words than feelings that I can write here but if these words could explain my feelings they would want to tell you, I always hoped to have you as my mother I truly did. You still make me feel like a child, like a person who needs to be taken care of.
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Next in line and right at the top- Poornima Bharadwaj (a.k.a Rumi Mausi)

The eldest the toughest. I remember my mum was also a bit scared of her. She is a hard nut to crack. But then they say things about coconut all true for her. You go visiting to her place and you would expect her to shower with love and tears. No. Sorry please lower down your expectations. There would be taunts sarcasm. Incidents being reminded when you didnt call her back.

And then you would go see her in the kitchen, she would be a bit more mellowed. For people they meet and they overflow with emotions and then begin to bicker. In her case Sigmend Freud is a bit lost, she would first taunt get a bit sarcastic and then suddenly she mellows down. All of a sudden you would see chinks in the armour.

Then they say na a coconut is a coconut for a reason. Inside its all marshmellows.

The one thing I can never ever forget is that when I was getting married, the usual strong and calm me was obviously a bit shaken up. During the pheras I would get welled up inside, I am a bride my mother not here to see a mirage of emotions exploded inside. And everytime I would feel I would break down, I would look sideways. There she would be sitting on a low chair right next to me, smiling with her soft eyes. The look on her face told me that my mother is right there, sitting with me undergoing the same turmoil a daughter mother face on such a day.

Like her even I find it difficult to explain how much I love someone, how much they mean to me. So I write and I want to tell her if it wasn’t for her that day I would have not come out of those pheras without breaking down. She was my strength throughout.

Me:Accha I will call you, pakka se
Reaction: Humne kab bola call karo. Aap log bade ho gaye hain. Ek aapka bhai hai joh gym mein rehta hai hum usko kuch nhi bolte. Hum aapko kuch nhi kahenge, aap log bade hain humse zyada jaante hain
Me: Rumi mausi yaar pakka call karungi sach mein na itna time kahan chala jaata hai pata hi nhi
Reaction: Hum nhi keh rhe hain call krne ko.

I wish that everytime I feel the need of a mother, you are there. I know I never have to say it to you, never have to ask you to be. The beauty of life is that you know. I hope for my own sake that you always know.

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The stories never ends. They would remain as it is. Perhaps by next year’s mother’s day there would be more drama more love but I know one thing for sure that as long as they are here I would never feel less of a daughter in this world. Never.

Happy mother’s day to the three most wonderful women in my life!

This photograph was taken at my engagement. I remember my husband telling me that watching the three stand like that and watching us with tears in their eyes made him feel blessed. Imagine how I must have felt.