An unknown woman

Today I saw a mother carrying her teen with muscular dystrophy and couldn't stop thinking about her. She has a son who is unwell. She has modified her car to accommodate his wheeled chair and his physical requirements. She carries him around for all his work. She loves him dearly. And above all, she turned around and gave me a smile. What courage lies in her heart and in her mind, is impossible for me to understand. All I know is that she is undergoing a lot of pain and yet she has embraced it all. And she has the strength to accept it and move on with it. She has the strength to shower love and happiness to all around her. She has the strength to smile at a stranger, who could do nothing but smile back at her and reflect. Yes, reflect that while we cry at small troubles, there are people who smile through even greater pain. Reflect that life is full of challenges and questions and difficulties and we do not know what other troubles will come in our lives in future. Reflect upon the fact that whatever we have been blessed with, is too precious, to cry over. Reflect that our trials are also a blessing in the long run. Reflect upon the fact that a smile is the most beautiful gift that we can give to anyone, to cheer them up, to wipe off their tears. Reflect that strength is not in going down first, but in standing till the end.

Stay at home mother or a working mother?

I recently came across a discussion about should a woman sacrifice her career for taking care of her children? Views both in favor as well as against the question were expressed. Both views were correct in a sense that it depends from person to person. Some women grudge the fact that they had to sacrifice their career and identity to raise their children and now those children don't respect them anymore.
It made me wonder is it better for a woman to leave her children behind and go back to work, is it okay to pursue career while the child is being taken care of by a nanny? Well, when I look around in my family and friends, I see both kind of mothers. My own mother was a working woman and during my childhood I used to dislike her leaving me to go and work. My aunts were all stay at home mothers and those who worked, did only after their children had grown up, or did part time jobs. All my friends had stay at home mothers. My sister, a dentist, left her job to raise her kids. In all these women I never saw a weakling but they all were inspiration for their children. I never saw a child not respecting his mother just because she was not a career woman. In fact I saw children asking their mothers' advice every now and them. My grandmother who never went to school was a role model to everyone who knew her.
I don't know what choice I will make in the future. Though I do want to work and study some more but right now I am raising my four month old, future still lies untold.

Beta tere gham mein maa ko hosh mein aana bhool gaya
Tu jo iss duniya se sidhara, maa ke dil se chain choot gaya


Acchi thi ya buri thi, jaane kaisi meri kismat thi
Jisko dil ne pyaar se paala, saamne uski turbat thi

Strange land

I feel as if my tears would never stop
I feel as if I can cry forever
While my tears can't bring you back
I know neither can my prayers
I held you close to my heart
So close that when you went away
It broke a piece of my heart
A piece that you took away
You went to the land of no return
You went and left my empty hands
I do not know how and where you are
How far away is that strange land

Hurt

My sorrow is my own and none even tries or even pretends to share it. Even those who claim to be mine, do not care about it. How do they expect me to be a machine. What am I supposed to think or do, I do not know. I know I am all alone and nothing, not even my shadow is mine.

What celebrations?

How do you celebrate when you see agony all around you? Do you celebrate humanity killing humanity? Do you celebrate death and disease?
Do you cry over Syria, Palestine, Iraq or do you cry over poverty and starvation in Africa? Do you cry over wars and violence or do you cry over poor farmers driven to starvation or suicide in India? Do you cry over Gaza or do you cry over Kolkata? Do you cry over Middle East or do you cry over Europe? Do you cry over rapes or over child molestation? Do you cry over civil wars or after attacked aircraft? Do you cry over poached wildlife or over destroyed environment?
How do you celebrate when your heart is weeping? How do you celebrate when your dreams are shattered? How do you celebrate when humanity is killing humanity?

A thought

Not opposing the oppressor is oppression. Not raising a voice against human rights violation is oppression. Being a mute spectator when somebody is being attacked is oppression.
When men kill men, women and children, there must be something wrong with the way children have been brought up. There must be something wrong in the thinking, if there is so much hatred in this world. It seems that humanity has failed somehow.
There needs to be a change in the choices we make. There needs to be a change in the way we bring up our children. Our children are the future of this world, they should be just and kind, their hearts overflowing with love.
Our children should care for those who are weak and oppose those who are hurting them.
Our children should stand up against oppression and not be a mute spectator.