39 Years Old, Widowed With Six Children

My mother was born on the day India got independence in a remote village in Southern India. Her name is "Suthanthira Udayam", which means "Rise of Independence". She was born into a wealthy family. She was married at the age of sixteen and given birth to six children. Her life was good until the tragedy strikes our family back in 1986. My father died suddenly leaving her with six kids aged between six to twenty. We are from a south Indian family and remarriage back then is a never imaginable one. My mom was 39 years old, widowed, all the wealth has gone, no income, and she had to feed six children. She faced all the challenges of life and raised all of us with much courage.

She taught us courage.

My mother lost her dad and mom on the same day back in the 1970s. Still, she didn't lose hope in life and she fought all the battles life throws at her. She was the one raising all the kids, she was the one taking care of other elders and she was the one gaining strength day by day. At some point in life, she lost all the assets and wealth. But she never lost confidence and faith in herself. She shouldered many roles in her life. She was a great mom for us, she was a great sister for many, she was a lead and lone warrior. 

She taught us confidence.

The most expensive thing for someone from a middle-class family is a "Dream". It is the one thing which we could not do even if it is free of cost. The reason is, most of the dreams are shattered the moment we say them to someone. If a person from the middle class says he wanted to be a millionaire, the next moment someone wealthier than them says you are not born to be a millionaire and discourages a lot to crush the dream. It is a very common thing in our hometown too. 

Albeit all those naysayers, my mom had bigger dreams. She wanted her two sons to become Engineers and everyone was laughing at her. People around her said, "You are over dreaming about your sons" and they kept on discouraging her when they get a chance. But she was very firm on her dream and helped her sons to become engineers. In fact, I and my brother were the "first" software engineers from our village. It could be common now that we can see many software engineers, but it was a luxury back then. 

She taught us how to dream big.

My mother is very fond of plants. She has lots of plants at our home. She waters the plants every morning and spends more time around plants. Her early mornings are always with plants. She brought seeds from different places and we have the most number of plants in our village. Once I asked her

"Amma, why are you always spending time with plants?" her answer was "Because I speak to plants, I take care of them like my children, if we are not speaking to them, they will feel sad as I am" she answered and went back to the plants with a smile on her face. To me, this is kindness.

She taught us kindness.

Years gone, now all of the six children are living in different places. But our mom is living alone in a village house with her loving plants and a dog. She refused to come out of the village as she loves the place where she and my dad met first. At 74, her only companion is her deep memories of life and she keeps praying every time for the health and happiness of her kids and grandchildren. She is a Monarch for our big family. She keeps spreading love toward us every minute. She is an angel sent from the universe to protect us, love us, lead us and guide us. She is another name for love. She is another name for patience. She is another name for strength. She is another name for confidence. She is another name for compassion. She is another name for inspiration. She is the strongest woman we have ever seen.

She is the meaning of LIFE and she is our amazing mother.