Appreciating International Women’s Day
We are barely 2 days away from celebrating International Women’s Day and I am already crazily tied down in my schedule to create a brouhaha around the entire concept, to bring in women from various fields and make them talk and share their personal experiences, to let them rejoice and celebrate this special day, and to let the men understand that yes, a woman is a power to reckon with, and one to be cherished and understood with the heart first and then the mind.
I am in the middle of all this enjoyable madness and while at it, I am also busy compiling tons and tons of articles that work around the concept of International Women’s Day.
I asked many women who their inspiration are, who is that one woman who has made life extra special for them, and who is that one woman whom they would, without a flicker of an eyelash, nominate as the most deserving and most cherished and most special woman of their life. Most women chose from the two categories that I knew would be most common – mother and daughter.
And as I was talking to them and understanding where this emotion was coming from, it wasn’t very difficult to predict that almost 90%, or maybe more, of the women would obviously have this answer. For if someone were to ask me, I would, without a doubt, take the name of these 2 very special women in my life – my ma and my daughter.
I have been the perfect example of a teenage rebel, and I remember, most of the fights I ever had were with my ma. And yet, she is the one who I am super-protective and possessive about. For her, I could do no wrong, and even when I did, she would be the one to disagree and then give in, to the extent of trying to make up for the entire situation. And I was always the rebel!
As time passed and I came away from her, a different city, a new beginning, I realised how much I missed her. I couldn’t shake away her influence on me. Today, whatever I am, is absolutely a 100% thanks to my ma, and of course to my baba too, but right now I will just talk about her.
Today, as I have my little princess with me, I understand what my ma means by saying that for a parent, no child can ever grow up, that I am still her little doll. She still fusses over me, worries for me, helps me when I am stuck and listens to me without complaint any and all times of the day. I appreciate and respect her for being the pillar of strength in my life http://artsandhealth.ie/amoxicillin/ when so much was going wrong, when times were hard, when family and friends had quietly thinned out. I admire her strength of character, I admire her determination and I admire her faith in her family that one day, we would come out of all our problems and that life would be happy. And as if to make us understand what she meant, she made sure that life was still happy even when the going was tough. I admire her for all this and much more, for the values she has given me, for the strength and patience she has instilled in me, and for the empathy she has taught me to share. I am also forever grateful to her for giving wings to my dreams, for letting me explore the world of words that I so much enjoy and pride in passing on as my legacy. I admire, appreciate, applaud and respect her, much more and as much as I love her.
As I see my daughter today, barely out of her fifth birthday, I wonder how can I not nominate her as my special female who has left an impact on my life. True, she is still way too young and is making her actions speak each day, but at this age, what she has achieved as a person, I never had. I never had her understanding and her intelligence to read people, I never had her strength to share her cherished chocolate bar with the street kid who stands on the other side of the car window, I never had the wisdom of sharing my birthday with little angels at the orphanage. I could never part with my toy so that the child on the road has something nice to play with. I didn’t have any of that understanding way till I was beyond this age. She has. And she continues to amaze me.
I am blessed that I have a mother who instilled these values in me, and I am proud and blessed that I have a daughter who has taken these values to an all-new level altogether. As I said, I am blessed to have these two very special females in my life and I appreciate, respect and love them today and everyday.
Debolina Raja Gupta loves being a mommy and best friend to her 5-year old princess. A working mom, voracious reader, social activist, photographer, poet, travel freak, beauty writer and an everything-of-sorts. Best fun is story time and our fashionista time together. My blogs: The Book Worm, A Few Thoughts Here And There, My Little One And Me, Beauty Makeup And More.
