Mom and Me

When I first stepped out of home to go to school, I waved back at her. I did not know where we were going. Daddy was taking me somewhere. I had a bag on my shoulders, a bottle in my hand, but I had no clue what they were for. A 100 metres away from home, I turned my head around, my eyes searching for her from between the trees that stood tall outside my house. I couldn't see her clearly. Where were we going this early in the morning?

A few hours later, I was among 20 unknown faces. All of my age. We played a little, cried a little, fought a little, and I waited for her to come and tell me why they were fighting with me. She did come, only when I cried my eyes out. She told me nothing was wrong. They were called Friends. That's what friends do!

A few years later, I'd go to school so that I could see a little less of her. Tuition time! 5pm -- Mother calls. She was my alarm clock back then. One call, and I knew it was time to get going. "Why?!" I thought to myself. "I wasn't running away!"

I hated taking her calls. Ditto in college. Mothers calling while we were having fun was not very cool. Specially when they were calling you to ask when you were going to be back! It was a girls' college. Why couldn't she trust me.

In the past five months, the tables have turned. I walk out of the office at 5pm. Exactly at 5.30pm I check my phone for my mother's call. She doesn't. 5.40 pm - I call her almost scolding her for not calling me, "Don't you know that you're supposed to call me and ask where I am? What if I was run over by a truck!" She just laughs. 

There are just so many things that I've figured out in these 5 months that I didn't realise in 23 years! She trusts me more than I can imagine. She doesn't call because she knows that I'll be home before she knows. I get worried when she doesn't call because I care for her, just like she did when I was younger. Bringing up kids is not easy! And turning into individuals that your parents want you to be like, is even tougher! Life is complicated and yet so simple.

One thing that will always remain -- Mom and me. The easiest, most convenient and the loveliest relationship ever!