It amazes me how smart our mothers could be, given a chance. I remember teaching her to text messages using a dictionary on her mobile, few months ago. She wasn’t much interested in learning, which made me wonder if I could blame my marks stating this trait of heredity.
Life has its moments of reality check. I was a volunteer for a theatre fest conducted in the city. And my mom came over to watch one of the shows to see how ‘m doing. That day I was assigned to make sure the guests were seated right. It so happens that two of my teachers were there among the seated audience. So naturally, I put on my happy-to-help face and walked around in what I believed to be a poised manner. That’s when my phone vibrated from the depths of my denims.
It was a message from my mom. It just said, “Come”. I looked around, spotted her waving at me. I wanted to tell her that I can’t text people, or use phone unless it is an absolute emergency. Instead I typed “Can’t” and gave her a shrug.
“I forgot to give u sweets” came the instant reply. Sweets? ‘I will never be bribed by sweets!’ I thought.
I wanted to tell her that snacks aren’t allowed in, and I can’t be seen with such confiscatable items. In the end, I typed a quick reply “Okay, ‘l come”. And I did. She knows how to get me! After handing over the pack, she had this I-knew-you’d-come-after-sweets smile on her every time I looked at her.
I changed my location to the centre of the hall where I thought I would be less threatened. Her next message just had three magic words- “Comb ur hair”. I froze. My partner saw me frowning at my phone and came over. “Sup?” he asked simultaneously glancing at the text I just received. I didn’t have much to tell, as it was self-explanatory.
“Cant!” I replied, pouting.
“Y cant u do it outside and come?”
“Amma, you’re distracting me”
The next moment, lights went off announcing the show. After the drama, on way home she asked innocently, “Liked the sweets?” and gave her best smile. A smile that was held back for long, crept to my lips. I smiled back :)
Even though I didn’t show, I loved her for all those texts. The kind of proud feeling a teacher gets when his/her student excels in their art. What would we be without moms?
