The divine mortal

I had accompanied a friend to the US Consulate for his visa interview. A boy was standing right behind me. A student visa applicant. He was nervous, his face said it loud.

His mother was there with him, matching her steps with her son’s. She was holding a string of holy beads, praying constantly. She looked at me and asked, “ is this the correct line beta?”   “ My son’s turn is right after you.. he wants to go abroad for higher studies..”

She was really excited and restless for her son’s interview.

I nodded and then looked at her son. He was pretty embarrassed by her mother’s display of true emotions. He was trying to keep away from her and silence her, throwing frustrated looks at her.

She would smile again, pat him and get back to her prayers.

She was perhaps not so educated, definitely could not speak English, or any language in a refined way.

That very moment a whole picture ravelled in my mind, which might just be imagination.

The son gets the visa and flies to a foreign country. He gets busy there. He has a new life and new set of people around him. His mother calls him every day to know about his wellbeing but he picks it once in 5-7 times and speaks for hardly 3 minutes.

He gets irritated if she asks him about his food. She prays for him every day. He is too occupied to ask her about her health.

When a woman gives birth to a child, perhaps another being takes birth the very same moment. A mother is born.

Mothers are such selfless beings. No feeling is even close to the affection and love a mother has for her child. It is so true: “God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers”.