Watching the figure wrapped in a sari, bent in the act of washing clothes I ponder anew, the life, the strivings and ambitions of this woman. This woman whose very existence is not for herself but for others - her children. Yes the woman with the meekness of a doe and the courage of a lion is  my "MOTHER".

Life was not a bed of roses for her when she left her maiden home to take up the burden and hardships of a family. I wonder how well I would have adapted myself as she did to the turmoil and turbulence which marked her life from then on. But ah! faith and hope; those beautiful virtues which she even now tries to embalm our souls with, carried her through the ever thoughtful of the whims and fancies of others she has denied herself and continues to deny herself so many, oh so many of those little pleasures which might have lightened the burden carried on her shoulders. But it is those very acts of kindness, that characterstic thoughtfulness and self denial, that makes her what she is - to me, to us, to everyone who has the opportunity to interact with her - to  me she is the perfect being, the embodiment of a perfect mother.

Adept almost everything, she has nurtured in each of us the buds of hidden talents helping them to blossom. She may not be a doctor of medicine but she is the healer of life's ills; she may not be a teacher of three R's but she is the teacher of life; she may not be the lawyer of the courts but she is the defence and prosecuter in our lives, fighting for the rights of her children against their adversaries.

I do not pretend to understand the complex nature that is hers and hers alone, she has an individual personality all her own which is not influenced by the peurile elements that surround her.

Looking at her, conscientiously shaking out the creases in the clothes just washed, I reach the conclusion that it is always same whenever she is the subject of my thoughts. She is a noble and overwhelming being, she is the most inspiring and wonderful person I have ever known and above all she is the best, the very best mother anyone can ever hope to have.