M Y M O T H E R by Bharati Bhattacharya

MY MOTHER
Bharati Bhattacharya
I looked up. The sky is inky-blue with stars glimmering like dotted jewels. I try to search for the star that is my "MA". It is a year now that she left, so silently. It is very difficult to comprehend, one moment she was there, beautiful and serene, as always, the next moment a void, she was gone. The tread of life severed by the cruel hands of time or fate or the profound dictate of the "Brahmanic philosophy", that "Life is pre-ordained".
My mother was the embodiment of great courage and grit, intelligence and common sense, compassion and love. She had the quality that endeared her to one and all. The first thing one noticed in my mother, was her beauty. She was very very beautiful, ethereally so, in reality, a beauty with brains. She was a natural composer of poems, anecdotes, had an exceptional memory, an alert and very modern mind with traditional values in tact. She thought, one’s self-respect is one’s most precious possession, which no one should loose under any circumstances. Ma ! I feel so proud and privileged to be your daughter.
I feel absolutely distraught and helpless without MA. She was a great emotional support for me. I never felt alone, for I knew my mother was always there to lend me her helping hand, anytime I need. Her absence has created such a void in my life which will never be filled again. May the almighty give us the strength to face life with fortitude and not despair. The end is only the precursor of a new beginning. A beginning where Ma is always present within, with all her blessings and bounties for all of us.
--------------------------------