Mother’s Day is celebrated to honour all mothers and express gratitude for the hardships they bear in bringing up a child. It is a celebration of motherhood. Most countries including the US, Australia, Canada and India observe Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.
On this occasion, Sakshi Vashist speaks to a cross-section of Doha residents on the roles their mothers have played in shaping their lives. Also, being Mother’s Day, some women have shared their experiences of being a mother …
‘We have a love-hate relationship’
Hooriya Hussain, social media manager, shares her relationship with her mother Sarah
My mother is special to me. She is a synonymous of gentle and steadfast. I silently admire her sincerity and threshold for the most difficult situations and respect her ability to bear it all without so much as a quiver.
I always felt she was the first to de-motivate or undermine my most difficult decisions. It’s only now I realise, that I probably wouldn’t have pushed myself this far had it not been for her. We have a love-hate relationship. But when she needs a friend, she always knows I’m all ears.
If only I can be half the person she is some day.
‘Now, after so many years, we’re friends’
Vishakha Mittal, Human Resources Executive at The Mall, speaks of her mother Ritu Kumar
Me and my mom, as I may put it, were particularly not very close. As in, we weren’t friends. Once I decided to leave Doha for my studies, I was away for five years and that distance brought us close to each other. Over the years, distance actually brought us close together. I returned and felt that I now have a friendlier and open relation with her.
I feel like I am a lucky person to have a mom like mine. She is affectionate, positive and very patient. Even though I am working and consider myself to be an independent woman, she still insists on packing my lunch every day.
We have an amazing time, shopping, cooking together and yes, even gossiping. During such jolly times, she passes on her valuable advice to me, about the lessons of life. Since our friendship grew, I never really had to explain anything to her; she just started understanding what I felt. She always has a positive solution to everything. And if not a solution, a warm hug, which almost takes away all my worries.
‘She is a superwoman’
Soniya Susan Abraham, a businesswoman and founder of December Bride, talks about mom Daisy
My mom is a superwoman because she can handle 100 things at the same time. She will be up in the morning making breakfast for family, then getting herself ready for work, teaching her children as well managing other household activities. She is really an inspiration for every working woman.
If my sister or I have any problems, mom is the first person we go to or call wherever we are. That is the level of frankness and loyalty between us sisters and mum. She then tells us not to worry and that everything will be fine. She takes up our entire burden and solves them out for us. But on the other hand, if I and sister had any good news to share, she would expect us to give our dad the first call to. That’s the way she has brought us up.
No matter how many times we fall, she would be there to lift us up and keep us moving forward with a positive attitude. One of the reasons for my success is my mom.
‘She saved my wedding day’
Steff Gaulter, Senior Weather Presenter for Al Jazeera English, speaks about her mother Marion
My mum is special because she’s always there for me no matter what. She has an off-the-wall sense of humour - which I share! She beat breast cancer. It’s now returned, but together we’re going to beat it again.
My most memorable memory with her is of when I got married in Argentina. My husband’s aunt suggested that it would be a good idea to get my dress made by a tailor that she knew in Buenos Aires. But no one at the tailor’s spoke English.
I feared that the dress could turn out to be a complete disaster, so I requested my mother to step in. She lacked linguistic skills but more than made up for it with enthusiasm. Over the next few weeks, we spent many a surreal hour at the dress-makers, trying to sign words like ‘train’, ‘veil’, ‘embroidery’ and ‘strap’ all with a limited amount of success. To see my mother pretend to be a train driving around the shop will stay with me forever, especially as I have since discovered that the Spanish word for a railway train isn’t the same as the train of a dress.
When I tried the dress on for the first time, my mum’s eyes filled with tears. My husband’s aunt may have still been humming the Wedding March, but my mum had ensured I had a stunning dress for my special day.
‘She believes I am magic’
Christine Gerber Rutt, a travel writer, essayist and blogger, talks about her daughter
I have been in Qatar for four years. I never taught her to believe in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. From the very beginning I told her that I was the Tooth Fairy putting QR5 under her pillow at night. Still, she insists, magic exists — she believes I am magic.
To her I can do anything. I can make cake rise. I can kiss her pain away. With just the touch of my hand I can make her feel like the world is a safe and joyful place. She believes in the magic of me.
How can I take that away from her? How can I tell her that I’m not magic?
On the morning of her eighth birthday instead of rushing downstairs to see if the table is filled with presents, she crawled into bed between my husband and me. She turned to me, stretched her body as close to mine, wrapped her long arm, lean as an octopus, around my waist and nuzzled her head close to my chest. I stopped breathing for a moment. It was ecstasy. Such days, I believe there is magic.
‘After 7 years of wait, I was
blessed with motherhood’
Thila Marimuthu, Legal Counsel, Qatar Petroleum International Ltd, shares her story about conceiving her son Devannan Manimaran
It took me over seven years to be a mother to my baby son who is two-and-half years old now. It is still fresh in my mind the day when the doctor confirmed to me and my husband about my pregnancy test and we had no words to express other than tears.
What is the most cherished moment to me as mother was when I was in my 5th month of pregnancy, the doctor told me I have to do “feto test” to ensure that my baby is not a down syndrome baby. We had faith in God and were prepared for the outcome since my son is a “precious baby” and he is God-gifted child to us after such long wait.
After two weeks I received a call from the doctor who just said “Mabrook”. The only one thing in my mind since then is that “this baby belongs to us”.
The joy of being mothered and mothering a child
Suzette De Coteau-Atuah, a Healthcare Project Manager and blogger at desertriverwriter.com, talks about being mothered by her mother, Angela Charles and then mothering her son Kwame Atuah
I failed an exam for the first time in my life in my second year of university. I was worried about telling mummy as she was forking out a fortune and if I failed the retake, I would have to repeat the year.
But her response was unexpected. She told me that life won’t be a series of successes, as failure is an integral part. Ultimately, success is about the lessons learnt and their application. I spent a significant portion of time that summer revising, passed the repeat exam and was allowed to go to my placement year in France, a bit bruised but wiser.
Having children was the deal breaker with my then boyfriend, now husband. I entered motherhood with trepidation. We took our son to Ghana, his father’s birthplace when he was just three months old for a family wedding.
One day, we left him for a couple of hours in the care of a houseful of grandmas, aunts and cousins. I was anxious the whole time away from him. On our return, when I took him into my arms to feed him, he looked directly at me and smiled as if to say, “don’t worry, we’re in this together”. That connection in our relationship is definitely symbiotic.
‘Her memories cease to fade away’
Constance Citalan, a homemaker, shares the memories of her late mother Shirley Stroud
My mother passed away exactly a month before mother’s day this year. After losing her, the life lessons she had taught me really seem to be clearer. She taught me to always be a first rate version of myself, rather than a second rate version of somebody else. She showed me that not everything in life is necessarily always going to be easy, but that with hard work and perseverance it was going to be worth it.
My mother was a dreamer, a doer, a believer and a thinker. She taught me to surround myself with people who see the greatness in me, even when I did not see it in myself.
The paths and interest in my life have all been moulded because of my mother and I will be forever grateful for her sacrifices she endured for all her children so that each of us could fulfill our potential. She had many struggles in life, including the loss of a young child but she never lost her sparkle.
I share the same sense of humour, sense of style, interest in design and love for horses, as my mom. I celebrate every memory of her.
‘I could never be away from her, not even to go to my aunt’s’
Raquel Citalan, 14-year-old schoolgirl, speaks about her mom Constance Citalan
The greatest lesson my mom taught me is to be who I am and not be sorry for it. I can’t think of a time where I wouldn’t want to go home during a sleepover with friends and just be with my mom. Some days my aunt would pick me up to stay over at her place. I would come out of the house with tears welling up in my eyes. I would get in her car to drive away; my mom would walk back to the door, see the car pulling around the street and then back at our house. I could never leave her for a block away from home — I would miss her too much.
I have always loved mom’s company. We have had our differences but then which mother and daughter do not to argue.
‘No supermom, I am just a human’
Abigail Mathias, a freelance writer in Doha, shares her experience of motherhood
When I accepted a job offer a few months ago, my six-year-old was overjoyed. “I am so happy for you, mama. Now you can go out.” His innocence and excitement was infectious.
He is learning the song, ‘Mother of mine’ in school for mother’s day. Hearing him sing warms my heart. Such little things reminds me how blessed I am. Hearing him say, the food I slaved over is ‘amazing,’ is just one of them. Before I know it they will grow older and so will their needs and beliefs. I have a document on my laptop called ‘toddler talk’ filled with all the funny things they’ve said. Yes, they are no longer toddlers and it just reminds me how fast time flies.
I guess I’m trying to hold on to every special moment with my children. Which mother isn’t? I make sure to inquire about their day, every day. No matter how preoccupied I may be, juggling every task on my to-do list. My parents raised seven of us and I often wonder how did they?
I don’t know who coined the term ‘supermom’. I doubt one exists. We are mere human beings trying to do the best for our children.
‘A word changed my life’
Namrata Inhe, a Qatargas employee, speaks fondly about her tiny tot Avantika
The most special moment of my day is when she calls me maa. The word maa — Hindi for mother — is very special. This word resonates with the world of a child. Just this one plain word makes me realise my responsibilities.
She loves to go out — especially to Bombay Chowpatty. It gives me such sense of pride to watch her talk, walk, eat by herself and grow. It seems like just a while back we were gifted with a bundle of joy, a joy consuming us more and more each day.
