Dear Auntyji
I am a 65-year-old woman with a wonderful family. I have lived a great life and I feel that my family values me. My grandchildren love me and each time they see me – which is nearly every weekend – they talk to me and tell me all about what’s happening in their lives. But Auntyji, my problem is, my family tends to ignore this special day that is Mother’s Day. I don’t get a card or cake or flowers on this day. Not even a handmade card, or supermarket roses, or even a measley lunch. Now I know that my daughter and daughter-in-law don’t get any of these items either, but I was really hoping that my kids and grandkids can make an event of Mother’s Day. When I see my sahelis posting their pictures on social media about their Mother’s Day events, I feel a strange loss, like I have nothing to add. I have tried dropping hints, but it falls on deaf ears. This year, if my family does nothing for Mother’s Day, I am going to get really upset. What is your perspective on the subject of Mother’s Day disappointment, Auntyji? I am sure you are a mother, and you understand?
Auntyji says
Listen up, I shall say this only once. What kind of %$&^% are you that you have bought into this nonsensical, late-stage capitalistic rituals in the twilight of your life? Here you are, with a wonderful family and having lived a great life where you are respected and loved, and instead of focusing on the authenticity of your abundance, you are choosing to harp on about the most inane of celebrations? Really, Mother’s Day disappointment – this is the ditch you’re choosing to die on? You’re telling me that a sukdi hui bhindi like you values the one day of the year when neglectful families can assuage their guilt by buying flowers and spouting platitudes to their mother, and then spend the rest of the year ignoring her? This is what you want for yourself? And worse, you want to boast about this on social media? No, you do not deserve any more of my time. Your family deserves recognition for valuing a harjai like you – all you deserve is my disrespect. And yes I am a mother, and I don’t want to have anything to do with Mother’s Day – because every single day is Mother’s Day for me.
Also read: Confessions of a shopaholic: Auntyji