Mothers’ Day Pictures and Amma’s Quotes

If you’re lucky, you aren’t taking a photograph with a photograph

I remember once, when my husband and I had a very major fight and I was in tears. I was emotional and depressed for about three or four days after that fight, and I kept sobbing.

My mom and dad had come over to visit me, at that time, as I had just had a baby. My mother said two things:

1. Looking at the face of a baby means that you forget a thousand problems.
2. Thinking about your problems is a luxury. We aren’t rich people to be able to dwell on our problems, to wallow in misery. We have work to do, we’re middle class.

I don’t remember how my husband and I made up, but I will remember forever what she said, “don’t wallow in misery, like a buffalo wallowing in cool mud, just because it is cool.” Being miserable is wallowing. It is the lazy thing to do.

My grandma had some fun quotes too, which just might be new to you.

1. Under the neck(throat), all is shit.
2. The great advantage of having dentures is that I can have a Tootsie Roll at night and go to bed with the taste in my mouth, without worrying that it will rot my teeth.

Both these quotes cross each other. One demands you not hanker after tasty food, because once you swallow it, it turns to shit! The other is literally a Tootsie Roll melting in the mouth.

But that’s what my grandma was like. She’d suit the quote to match the occasion.

Today’s photo wasn’t as sad as I had expected. I felt happy that my cranky Apple watch worked well enough to be the remote switch for the phone camera.

‘Coco’ made me feel that a photograph with a photo was a good way to remember moms on Mothers’ Day, the ones who are no more.

If you’re like my husband, who leans on me to take care of his mum, you order the one dish from her favorite restaurant that she does not eat.

I’m the one who polished off that dish. Mum-in-law will get her favorite dish on my wedding anniversary, when my hubby mixes it up again!

One of my friends also lives in a joint family like I do – in the same house as his mom. His mom is Covid positive, while he’s just recovered from Covid. They’re having a Mom’s day picture over Zoom – in separate rooms in the same house.

First, he was sick and quarantined, and she cooked for him and his infected wife and child, literally leaving food outside the bedroom door. Then she became Covid positive after he recovered, and he and his wife are returning the favour.

Here’s wishing everyone a very happy Mother’s Day. Yes, it is a tough year, but let us dwell on the tiny positives we keep seeing in our days and our lives. Just like mom taught us.