Mother...

As I got up today, I felt the smell of fresh coffee. I woke up to see a
cup of coffee with some biscuits kept at my bedside table. This reminded
me of home. The old school and college days, when mamma used to wake me
up by serving a steaming cup of coffee. The aroma, the taste, so
refreshing, still so fresh in my memories.

A sudden thought hit me, I was in bed, so who prepared this coffee for
me? Is it a dream? I pinched myself, ouch… that hurts, which meant I was
not dreaming. I walked out of the room with the cup of coffee, in search
of my roommate. I asked her whether she prepared that for me, and the
answer was YES.

I was relaxed but somehow my heart wanted her to say NO. A no ecause I wanted to be in a belief that my mom prepared it for me. The whole scene
reminded me of mom, and I missed her at that moment. I got ready for the
office and all set to leave, when I noticed a lunch box kept at dining
table just for me. I thanked God saying, finally he(cook) turned up. I
took the box and left for office.

On my way, I was thinking about those days, when mamma used to ook my
every meal. All her possible ways by which she could stuff her daughter.
I could not remember any single day when I slept without food. Maggie,
chips, biscuits, all junk food was banned and I always cooked Maggie
when I was sure that mom was not around. But now, I no more enjoy
cooking Maggie for myself. Almost every day I eat it, not because I like
it, but because I am left with no other option at times.

This very thought brought tears to my eyes and I decided to call up
mom. I reached office and gave her a call. The first thing she asked
was, Is everything alright?. I was speechless. And I thought, how the
time has changed. When I was with her, I used to nag her by calling
after every hour when I was out with friends. In those days she never
asked me what was wrong, as she knew that it was my habit. My call at
this point of day to her, means that I am in trouble. Time has changed,
she is still the same, its me who has changed. But I continued my
conversation saying that I just called up to ask how she was, and how
are things going on with her. And we continued our conversation. Then
the ice-breaker came when she asked, Don’t you have any work today? I was
shocked and asked her why she asked that, in reply to which she said, it
was almost 30 minutes, I have been talking to her.

I hurriedly ended the conversation saying I have to attend a meeting. I
lied to her and deep down I know, she knows that I lied to her but what
else can I do? The lady with whom I used to have endless conversations,
sleepless nights of gossips… has all ended. I am so occupied with my new
life that I forgot to spend few hours with her.

I rollback the time and thought of every single day that I have not
spent with her. This made me realize that there was not a single day
when I was busy, busy in a sense to neglect my mom. The lady who gave
her whole life just for me, I could not even give her the time that she
> deserved. I remembered how I used to tell her about all my daily
> happenings and how I always failed to ask about her day. It left me all
in tears. I missed her and missed her to core.

I was feeling ashamed, because it was a cup of coffee that made me
realize her presence in my world.

We all are here, away from our family, living with our friends, who are
our new family. We spend our lunch time with them gossiping about what's
going in and around, weekend-shopping with them and even festivals as
most of us are staying too far from home. And when we call home, we are
in a hurry to hang up as most of are BUSY. Are we really that busy?

Think of the lady whom we have left back at home. She still misses her
son/daughter at the dining table, although most of us enjoy our meals
with our friends and colleagues. She still waits all day just to hear
her son/daughters voice at the end of the day and we, we spend our time
on phone with friends or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Is it really that we don't have time or is it just we are too busy with
our new life?

I apologize to all the mothers in this world and thank them for what we
are today and we were never too busy to neglect you