Maa Durga & Mommy Me

As a kid I always admired goddess Durga, or more fondly called Maa (Mother) Durga in larger part of the country. I was always awestruck by her majesticity & grandeur. Dressed in her bright red attire & matching ornaments, her godly brilliance radiating on her face. Holding all kind of weaponry in her ten hands (astra-shastra), and yet that peaceful calm on the face.

But it is only in last two years that I have actually understood, and thus admired & respected her strengths with a new found devotion.

Take today morning for example. I left home to drop my two year old daughter to school. As I stepped out of home, I was holding my bag, her school bag, her water bottle, car keys and the glass of milk she was still finishing. In addition, she decided that today her big teddy & pink dolly will also accompany her. She even picked up her purse from the table near the door. Experience has taught me that managing this entourage is not a mean task. Hence I tried arguing with her to leave some of it behind. But at the end of the discussion I realized my only two options were to either make her cry, or to comply by her wishes. Needless to say, I chose the latter. And as expected, by the time we reached the car, in addition to my initial luggage, I was also managing her purse & dolly, while she was struggling to keep the teddy above the ground.

No wonder Maa Durga with her ten hands is now my source of inspiration & strength.

Since this is my daughter’s first week in school, the school authorities have requested me to be around allowing her time to settle. So last couple of days I have been sitting outside, fiddling with my phone & books. And all these days, I have seen another toddler struggling with his new environment. His mother, due to circumstances not known to me, can not be available for the settling-in period. Every day I see the child, howling his lungs out, crying for his mother. The school staff takes turn in trying to pacify him.

Seeing him I am reminded of only one fact, even ten hands together struggle to replace two hands of a mother.

Coming back from school, I headed straight to the kitchen, where most mothers spend almost half their time. Now, for anyone who works regularly in a kitchen would know that it is nothing less than a factory work-station. Modern gadgets equip you for easy and quick food preparation. But one needs to match their efficiency levels if you want to achieve results. However, in my kitchen, these days fun starts, like today afternoon, when my daughter decides to lend a helping hand. And she insists on making her presence felt in all areas of work. From doing the dishes, to mopping the floor, from operating the micro-wave to pushing the gas knobs. And the best part comes when she tells me –“Mumma, you go. I am doing. You go. You sit.”

Oscillating between my work & her antics, and simultaneously preventing the mess in the least & mishaps at a max, I really wish god will bless me with at least a couple of more hands.

There is an African proverb – ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

I am only hoping for a couple of more hands to work with, and at least another tongue to help me in answering all possible questions of ‘Tell me What, Why, When, Who, Where…….’

P.S. – Daddy, come back soon.