I always thought mother is a physical entity, a person but now I think mother is not a concrete noun but an abstract one. 

There are few instances which I remember when I thought that  mothers are overprotective of their children and I actually thought it’s silly to get attached to one’s child too much. These instances were:

My friend who is 6-7 years older than me, gave birth to a very cute baby boy. One day I went to her house to meet her as after marriage we couldn’t share the same bond as earlier, so to just cherish some time together I went to meet my friend. But I really forgot that now my friend is also a mother. She was so protective of her child that honestly I was feeling sidelined, I shouldn’t feel like this though but that’s what it was. 

Second occasion on which I was confused was when last year due to low glucose levels I became unconscious. My mother was screaming and my aunt’s hands were trembling. I know it’s normal to feel like that when someone close to your heart falls like this or is feeling low but they cried after an hour and for the whole next week I was under their protective cover. It was quite suffocating but at the same I was grateful for these lovely ladies around me.

Okay now the third instance happened just a few days ago, the park that is just in front of our house, is the heart of our locality. People from far away places visit there to make their evenings more fun filled because of its beauty. What makes it more lively is the children playing there with full vigor. One day I heard a loud noise of a child crying bitterly, no one was at home except my sister. So when we came closer, we also started hearing another crying voice, which was of the child’s mother. The little girl child got an injury on her ear while playing and thus was in pain . It was really painful for her mother too, so she too was crying in panic. People gathered there, one of the men there was a doctor who suggested that it is not a grievous injury but a simple one and also told her mother to calm down otherwise the child will be in even more pain. But mothers are mothers, she was not even in a state to pay heed to anyone’s suggestions. That child and their family lives in our neighborhood only. So after a few days when we went to the park for an evening walk, the mother of that girl was explaining to almost everyone what happened that day and also how she felt. She also came near us( me and my aunt) and told us how she can’t even bear the pain of her child when she went to get her ears pierced to get her to wear the earrings, and she said with a painful impression,” so you can imagine how it would have been for me to bear the pain of an injury”. 

We prayed for her child but somewhere in the back of my mind, I couldn’t get this whole mechanism behind the mother’s heart. So God led me to the fourth instance which cleared all my doubts. I have adopted a beagle puppy named Bambi( like jam: bam-bi). Last month, one night he came near my bed and started waking me up with his whimpering voice. I got up and picked him up in my lap. I observed that he was shivering, I thought the weather was changing but no matter how many blankets I gave him, he shivered with the same intensity. Thus, it was confirmed that he has a fever as he also had a high fever a few days back.  I gave him his medicine, which stopped his shivering but his body was still burning. It was early morning so no vet’s clinic could be found open. Moreover my parents left for their work. My sister and aunt were sleeping too. So I applied all the home remedies I knew. My heart beat was faster than his because I could not bear to see this little friend of mine losing in front of my eyes. 

When my masi woke up we went to the doctor where his blood samples were taken and he was diagnosed with parasite infection, which is common in dogs. He got injections for the next three days but how I felt is unexplainable. I would hardly afford to leave him alone. I kept waking up for nights to see if he’s okay. I ran after him for his medicines. I would give him water by the dropper if he doesn’t drink it normally. And even now while writing this article I went to check if he’s okay as he was playing in our neighbor’s house with another puppy . 

All my family members have given me the tag of Bambi’s mother. I proudly wear it everyday because I now think that mother is an emotion not a noun. I think if you have a heart of a mother it becomes irrespective of what gender you have because I think if I would have been a boy, my feelings would have been the same for him. It doesn’t matter if you are a biological mother or not, feelings don’t know biology. And the most important thing that I have learned is:

In order to give birth to the emotion of a motherly love, it’s not necessary that whom you are loving, it can be anyone, another species, elder person, your friends,anyone can become the channel to sprout this divine love in you. 

You can read my post Connection  here to read about the relationship that is shared between me and my furry friend, Bambi.