"Are you her son sir"? "Oh my God! Sir, that woman was something else. She was god. Her smile, that can cure people"
I randomly met a gentleman in a shop nearby. Since I have recently moved into the town I grew up, after many years, one of my hobbies is to randomly walk into a new shop and drink or eat something. My motor mouth always ends up having conversations, and it invariably turns toward the mom. My great mom! Sometimes, I show off; More often the conversation steers from "Where do you live", to "Oh that hospital had a great doctor", and then shyly I tell them, she was my mother.
As we were having the conversation, the man's wife entered. Sir, that woman was a god! I came for her funeral and it took me one whole month to come out of it. In our village, everyone just has such high regard for her. If only......I knew where the conversation was headed. I had to stop there.
My mom had the advantage of being an OGcian. That means families, especially women go to her at some of the most vulnerable periods of their life. Also, some of the happiest moments of their lives are celebrated when she is around. Yet, for a town to celebrate a woman who lived just 25 years of her life in the town is incredible.
I think I'm now beginning to enjoy conversations where Amma is exalted. This has not happened once or twice. It happens every time. Everywhere I go. My trainer in the gym. The barber. The neighbour next door. My grocer. For a long time, I'm someone who gets embarrassed at being introduced as the son of the doctor. Now, not only am I enjoying the adulation, but also reaping the benefits and the perks of being born to her.
The dad and I are the show off's. We pride ourselves on being of some influence on someone. Then there was this woman. Quiet. Shy. Petite. Pantophobic (afraid of everything) Never knew the world. Never crossed a road on her own. Never have driven a vehicle. Never read a book.
Yet there is a small yet buzzing town out there in the world that has her in its hearts. I'm not sure how many more stories are hidden in her tomb. Humbling!
How big were you actually, woman?
