Happy Mother’s Day

On the occasion of mother’s day, I would like to share an anecdote. This will be relevant to most of the people out there. A traditional household has a set of rules to be followed, some are governed by mothers(mother-figures) and some by fathers(father-figures). My mom has maintained the same for the kitchen throughout my childhood and are still maintained. Here are some, let me know if you relate to any,

1) the way to put back the glass after drinking water

2) the way of throwing the waste and putting the plate in sink after eating

3) always cleaning the floor/table spot after eating(known as jhootha in most north-Indian households)

4) Never putting the wet spoon in any container (that has some ingredient of course like sugar, spices, etc.)

5) always using a clean spoon when tasting food while cooking(the logic is to maintain the sanctity of food by not making it ‘jhootha’ but I assume this rule has been made to ensure hygiene)

As a kid, I used to get irritated at times because why not go off to play as soon as you are done with miscellaneous activities like eating and drinking, but mom didn’t have it any other way. For a large part of my life, I followed them fearing her wrath. Now when I think about it, my mother has engraved so many habits in me that I do subconsciously. What amazes me, now I can’t not follow them. It makes me eerie to do otherwise.

I thought about this when a number of ads on social media offered to help me learn skills in a productive way, build habits, change my personality-break me into a new one. See, the best way to be good at something is to make it a part of your life in such a way that it hurts you to not do it. An automatic switch that gets triggered the moment you are up and about.

Mum acted like the personal trainer( a job for which professionals in current times will charge a million dollars) and showed me that I’m capable of building on convention, develop habits and hence achieve what I wish for. The kitchen rules are one of many examples of how my mother contributed to my life. This is a reminder for myself and people who are reading this that when dig deep we can see the mothers for the Gurus they are. Gurus we don’t have or can not afford :).