Above all, she is a mother
Nihaan hai har aurat mein ek maa ka dil/ Har soorat mein aurat pehle maa hai. — Tariq Aurangabadi
So true. Embedded in every woman is the heart of a mother! I can vouch for the profundity of this line. Brought up as a motherless child, yet receiving motherly love from a host of wonderful women at every juncture of life, I could empathise with the eternal truth that a woman is first and foremost a mother. Studying in Iran and living at a boarding school in Tehran, my first experience of meeting a motherly woman happened when I met my warden’s wife, Mrs Mehnaaz. She was a personification of all that’s affable and angelic in this world. I’ll ever cherish her beatific smile. Knowing that I lived alone and was a vegetarian, she used to cook vegetarian dishes for me and eventually turned a vegetarian, much to the amusement of her hardcore non-vegetarian husband, who was my warden at the hostel. Then came Mrs Shabihah Shaheen. She taught me English and was extremely patient with me. Every day, she’d give me a chocolate bar. She’d be pleased as punch to hear me speak fractured English and would rectify my mistakes in Persian. Whatever little English I can learn in life, it’s because of her indefatigable efforts. She had abiding faith in my abilities. I’m still in touch with her. Though quite old, she still visits India to meet me. Never in life did she ever impose Islam on me and always respected my atheism and non-religious existence.
At Ahmednagar in India, I met Mrs Shamim Baghban. She had a fashion boutique and was a designer. She’d always darn my clothes and stitch them. Whenever I used to offer her some money, she would say, ‘Hum apne bete se paise nahin lete’. My relationship with her is still intact. I make it a point to meet her whenever I visit Ahmednagar. In fact, I go there just to meet her.
Apart from these loving ladies, I met scores of wondrous and matronly women who mothered and shaped my life. My professor and mentor Dr Zaifa Ashraf was someone whose memories still warm the cockles of my heart. So is Mrs Meera Kulkarni at Ahmednagar. A woman is an epitome of love and affection. Motherly instincts come to a woman as naturally as fragrance to flowers. They (women) are ministering angels. That’s the reason nurses across the world are still women, because a sense of care and service is integral to their psyche and personality. Nature endows a girl child with intrinsic and implicit motherhood.
On the eve of Mother’s Day, I bow before all these women and others who loved and mothered me in different phases of my life. Some have left the world and some are still with me. My deepest love and respect to all.
