It was just a few quotidian mornings back, that I had woken up in a room not nearly identifiable as the one I had left off the previous night. All the unfurled sheets, scattered stationery and the disarrayed textbooks from a late study-night had been escorted to their new placements. I squinched my eyes as a little note left on the whiteboard caught my attention – “ We’ll get through any struggle together! Keep going! “ I smiled radiantly, recognizing the handwriting.
As I walk out of the room, I expect a completely ordinary day, starting off the breakfast table. That’s just when I heard my mother call out to me hurriedly. “Are you up? Come to my room quickly- I have something important to show you.” Judging from her tone, I knew, it wasn’t a trick call to show me where I had left my dirty clothes or what amounts of food I had left uneaten from my tiffin. I entered her room with utmost curiosity and novelty- just to find it covered with mini-mountains of old portfolios all over the place. The floor was embedded under bundles of polaroid pictures, worn-off greeting cards and shrivelled inked-letters. There were rows of certificates and medals lined up on the bed. I couldn’t take my eyes off a pile of unfamiliar, spectacular, hand-painted masterpieces which quite startlingly had my mother’s signatures on them. A little into the room, I find my mother re-arranging her old chest of drawers.
“Good morning! I see how my old stuff has caught you by surprise,” she said.
“These paintings? These certificates? These pictures?” I was overwhelmed.
It went without saying that I had known my mother inside-out for 16 years of my life: her different moods, her tones, her funny lies that directed me to where my chocolates were hidden. However, I’d never known who she was before she was my mother and I’d woken up to perceive a completely different world of hers. The woman I saw in those tarnished yet vibrantly rich polaroids was just as free-spirited, pure and passionate of love and laughter as I had known her now, but still so unfamiliar. I wanted to unravel the mystery of her childhood, to identify a person with early dreams and fears just as mine. With my biggest inspiration living so close to me, I want to mould myself into a woman as advancing and motivating as her in the future.
So on account of Mother’s day, I went on to ask my mother Shital Doshi a few questions I had never sought an answer to before.
1. Do you see parts of yourself in me?
You don’t know how lucky it makes me feel to see the younger version of myself in you alongside the adult I am. It makes me feel as though I’m still carrying my childhood with me – days spent in curiosity to explore the world, to set out passionate dreams for myself and find joy in the surprises of an unpredictable future. I see the same drive in you to pursue your dreams and not take ‘no’ for an answer when it comes to working hard for it as when I was younger. I have tried my best to give you the freedom you need to chase after your life dreams and it makes me more than happy to see you grow up to be an open-minded person. I am so proud to see the same sense of respect in you that my mother had cultivated in me for family, teachers, friends as well as those in need of help. And, that’s just apart from your facial features and emotions.
2. What’s one advice that you would like to give to your younger self?
I haven’t had any regrets in life, I believe everything happens for a reason. But, if I were to say, I would have told my younger self to grasp all opportunities at hand, embrace all failures. I would have ensured that I made each day worthwhile- dancing like nobody’s watching, playing like there is no end to summer. I would have wanted myself to know that I was going to have a beautiful future with a family I love.
3. What accomplishment are you the proudest of?
My biggest achievement in life isn’t my school-academic certificate or my artwork. For me, it is nurturing and raising this family into this exceptional bond that we have today. What makes me immensely proud is how we support each other to reach our individual goals. After a day’s work of looking after the house and working on paintings with customers, it makes me so relieved that I can feel at peace with my family at the end of the day- whom I’m proud to say are my best friends.
4. What would be your favourite mother’s day gift?
While some homemade chocolates and a few extra hours of sleep would be everything worthwhile…HAHAHAHA…something that would make the day perfect for me would be to spend all my time with you and dad. That’s something that would make me more than special that day.
5. What did you not expect as a mother?
As a mother, I had never expected time to fly by so soon. It was just as if yesterday I was teaching you how to hold a pencil. And in the blink of an eye, we are back in the present. I see you growing up each day, re-shaping yourself from your past mistakes to become a young driven woman. I just wish I could document each day, in fact, each moment we spend together. Time is flying and you are growing up much faster than I expected. It all just feels like a video on time-lapse.
