I got up to the sound of my alarm. I opened my eyes and looked at ceiling fan just wishing to sleep more in my comfortable bed. I am always very lazy to get up morning and a vivid sleeper. But being a college student I know I need to get up from my bed and get ready for my college. I know I only have one hour more to reach my college.
I am 18 year old guy currently doing a 1st year engineering course in one of the best college in the city. Well, I am in one of the southern states in India, which is known as IT Hub. Though we live here, we are not really from the southern part. My family is actually from the northern part of India. But we are born and brought up here due to the nature of my dad business. Even though we are not very rich, my dad is having a good business of his own, and we are comfortably living in a very good locality in the city with a nice house.
Anyway, my family consists of dad who is a good father, loving husband, and very professional in business and around 42 years old. My mom is a housewife, 36 year old very pious, religious, loving, and affectionate mom. Though she was very well educated during her younger days, even continuing her studies after marriage, finally decided it was her duty as a wife and mother to completely taken care of her family in all way and I can say that she was 100 percent to that role in every time of our life. As a mom, she was always with us whenever we needed anything from our parents, even more than my dad, who was sometimes busy with the things of his business. Even though dad too spent his time with his family whenever he can, sometimes his busy schedules will not make it happen. But on the other hand, it was our mom who was always with us when we had any problems with our life like in our schools, helping in home works, going out together for shopping when required and it was always enjoying fun and good to be with her because she is very loving, affectionate, smart, funny person with a smile on her face every time which makes her looks very brighter. Well in our family there are two other two members who are my siblings, my younger brother 15 year old and younger sister 13 year old both of them doing their schooling.
I got up from my bed and went to the toilet, which is on the first floor of my home. Being a 18 year old I decided it is best for me to have my belongings in the attic area, which has lots of space for my doings. So the attic was refurbished to make it a big bedroom for me, which has enough space with my computer and my own wall LED tv with cable connection and game console. The only problem is that the attic is divided in two with one as my room and the other as the storing room to keep some old items. So the access to the store room is through my bedroom though nobody use it very much except my mom for occasional visit to take some old items and to ensure that my room is kept cleaned. So it's not invading my privacy in any way, and I am so glad that I got a very big space to have my own fun. But of course, the disadvantage is I need to use the common toilet on the first floor. But when I compared with advantages, I was happy to go with this.
After my morning rituals in the bathroom and getting ready for my college. I went down to our kitchen where there is a table and normal place for having our family breakfast and eating though we have a special dining room for arranging food during guest arrival. By the time I reach in kitchen my dad brother and sister were there having their breakfast. My mom was busy with making some bread, and seeing me, she said:
"Here comes our sleepy head" and then smiled at me.
I smiled at her and said good morning to everyone and sat on chair. My mom brought the breakfast plate in front of me, and before going, she just ruffled my hair.
"Ohh, mom. Now i have to comb my hair again, " I complained.
My mom just laughed to it and continued doing her thing of making tea for all of us. When she finished making her tea , she kept all the cups on the table for us to take it. My brother was sitting near the kitchen counter, and she was keeping the cups near to him. When she finished keeping the cups on the table, she just kept her hands on my brother shoulder and hugged him affectionately with a kiss on his forehead on top of his hair.
My brother suddenly moved his head and removed her hands from his shoulder and said loudly:
"Mom, please, can u stop these things, I am not a kid anymore,"
"Yeh, mom, we are not kids anymore. You are embarrassing us when you are doing it always, especially when you do it in front of our friends." My sister joined with him.
My mom replied back to them " You all are kids to me always.""
" Our friend's make fun of us when you do that, and they say we are still babies," my brother complained.
My dad, who was sitting and eating his breakfast, suddenly said, " Yeah, Anjali, they are right. You shouldn't do all these things anymore, especially outside. Now they are almost grown up. Even sometimes I too felt that you are overdoing all these things. "
Now, as I mentioned earlier, my mom is a very affectionate person, and she loves to express affection in a more physical way, like hugging, kissing us on cheeks, and holding the hands. When we were young, we never bothered much about it. But when we are grown up that is something we didn't like to have and moreover she frequently does it whenever she likes it. She doesn't bother where we are and even hold to our dad the same way in front of parties or weddings, which had given few embarrassing moments for him too.
Now everyone was complaining and saying about their dislike of mom's public affection and sharing their time of embarrassment because of her. she sat there in a chair opposite to me without saying anything.
Well, even I also had my own time of embarrassing moment because of my mom expressing her affection in this way, and honestly, I too was not very fond of it.
I also had felt..." I started saying but stopped suddenly seeing tears forming her eyes, and she was looking at me controlling her emotions.
I had seen mom smiling and laughing a lot. But never once, I had seen her with tears. Though if she was mood off with something, we never saw her with tears on her, and it was a shock to me to see my mom with some watery eyes, though nobody except me saw it.
I stopped what I was saying and didn't have the courage to say anything to see her in that stage. My dad, brother, and sister continued their complaints. My mom silently heard everything without saying anything. At last, when it was time to go to school, my dad said my brother and sis to get up and go to the school bus.
After my dad and siblings left, my mom suddenly got up from her chair and went out of our kitchen without saying anything. I sat there quietly, had my breakfast, and when i finished my breakfast, I took the plates and kept on sink for washing. By the time I finished, my mom came back to the kitchen, washing her face, and from the look of her face, I knew that my mom was crying.
I really felt very bad for her and had myself guilty for almost going to join my dad, brother, and sister in complaining her affection.
She took the remaining glasses and plates from the table and kept them on the kitchen counter. She was standing with her hands on the counter and looking outside through the window.
"Mom." I asked
"Yeah?"
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I am fine,"
"Mom, you.."
"Ajay, it's time for you to go to college. so don't waste your time here, and I am totally fine, " mom said, a little angry.
I decided to go knowing that it is better to leave the subject for now.
It has been one week after the incident, the first two days mom was a little silent. But from third day onward, she became normal and was actively taking part in all things, though i felt like she was feeling missing something.
Though she stopped showing affection in open ways. Sometimes, I found that she was controlling her feelings because a few times, I saw her bringing her hands to touch my brother and sister hair but suddenly stopped it without doing anything.
I really felt sorry for her and thought of mom's habit of showing affection in a more open way. After all, it is not such a very bad thing to show affection to her husband or kids. It's part of her nature and character. She was always very friendly, loving affectionate person to all of us, and what is it wrong in showing her feelings in more open ways.
At that time, I decided I should not be like others and should show and appreciate her in every way I could for all the good and happy things she had done to me in my life. But I didn't know how to do it.
It was morning as usual, and my dad and siblings just left after having breakfast. I was sitting in my chair with all my thoughts. mom was standing near the counter, arranging all vegetables for lunch. She looked very pretty and had a very beautiful face. She was just humming some song, and it shows that she had overcome her bad feelings of the previous week incident.
I finished my breakfast and took the plate to keep in the zinc. I decided to go to my college and said to mom.
"Mom, i am going,"
"Oh.. ok baby, " saying that she almost came near to me. But she suddenly stopped and I knew that she wanted to give her hug, which was always done when I went to college. She looked at me and smiled without saying anything. I understood that she wanted to give me a hug but was afraid to give me because of me thinking badly. So I decided this is my opportunity to show her my appreciation and love for my mom for being a nice mom to us for all our lives.
I moved towards her, put my hands around her, and hugged her, saying:
"I love you so much,"
Now i am 5"8, and my mom is 5"4 "in height. At first, she was a little surprised by my hugging her because never, ever since I become a teenager, I have never initiated a hug myself. Normally, when we hug, it was always mom start to hug, and I would just hold her or give her a slight hug. But today, not only I have initiated the hug as well as I am giving her real hug, which I have never done for years. After a few seconds, my mom sighed her breath and put her hands around my back, hugged me with her head kept on my shoulder.
Feeling my mom so close to me like that really felt very good, and I felt my love towards my mom is passing through our body. This is the first time I felt so good myself having hugging each other, and I decided that I should do this more frequently to appreciate her.
We stood hugging each other like that for a few minutes without saying anything. Then my mom just asked me.
"Why?"
"Nothing, I just want to show how good mom you are."
"Oh.. really? By hugging me"
"Yeah."
"Hmmm.. you never liked me hugging you earlier. "
"Well... maybe earlier, but now it's different. "
She just took her head from my shoulder, looked at me, and then asked:
"Why? Is it because of the incident"
I thought myself and replied back. "Partly yes, but i missed it." I know I was lying myself, but I thought it is better to make her happy by lying.
She laughed at me and asked. "You miss my hug? Wow, that's some miracle son. "
"No, mom, I really miss it when you stopped it totally. Now only I understood it has importance in my life and how much I missed it. "
"But baby, you never showed any interest when I was hugging you earlier."
"Yeah, that's because you always hug us in front of someone,"
"So you prefer to hug when you are alone like this?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind it when you hug me if I am alone."
"Ok, that can be done. We can keep it as a secret. Hehe..." mom giggled.
"Yeah.. a big secret between us, " I laughed, looking at mom.
We both laughed at the joke. I removed my hands from around her and moved to the door to go to my college. I suddenly stopped near the door and turned to mom. My mom stood at the same place with a bright smile on her face. Looking at her bright smile made me feel a lot better and happy.
"Mom. I love you so much. "
"Baby, i love you too. Now go and don't be late for your classes. " She was surprised, and I could see it in her eyes, and I could see a smile on her
I smiled and left to college with a happy smile and feeling a lot better.
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