Mother's Day in the time of the coronavirus

"When you called in the evening, I knew you were calling to wish for Mother's Day," my sister said.

We have routines.  Every other day, I call India to check in on my folks--but always their mornings, well after sundown here in America.  My brother calls them from down under at lunch time.  Rarely do we deviate from this pattern.

A regimented life in so many ways!

The following is a slightly edited version of the Mother's Day post from 2013:
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Growing up in India, there was no concept of a special day for mothers.  Nor fathers.

After coming to the US, especially during the initial years, the concept of wishing mother or father seemed strange.  Very odd.  The idea of wishing on a designated day is the strange part that is, not the idea of recognizing the mother's importance in life.

I imagine that mothers were way up high in pretty much every culture's list of important people, and the old country emphasized it in so many different ways.  A long, long time ago, we learnt a verse in the Sanskrit class in high school:

राजपत्नी गुरोः पत्नी मित्रपत्नी तथैव च
पत्नीमाता स्वमाता च पञ्चैता मातरः स्मृताः
- चाणक्य नीति

Transliteration:
raajapatnI guroH patnI mitrapatnI tathaiva cha
patnImaataa svamaataa cha pa~nchaitaa maataraH smRutaaH
- chaaNakya nIti

Meaning of the subhAShita:
The king's wife, the teacher's wife, friend's wife, wife's mother and his own birth mother - these 5 should be deemed as mother figures

It is interesting that the couplet includes "mitrapatni" in this list--perhaps as a way of telling guys to stay away from ogling their friends' wives!

In the old country traditions, the older women in the extended family were all mothers and grandmothers.  I have had an incredibly lucky life with wonderful motherly women.  As I noted in this post, my mother, grandmothers, and aunts, even literally made sure that my life was sweet.

It has been almost forty years since my last Sanskrit class.  The teacher, Pattabhiraman, who taught us those wonderful couplets and more, also deserves a huge thanks--even though his gender will get recognized only next month on father's day.

The mother of all

There was no concept of "Mother's Day" in the old country, back when I was a kid.  Now, of course, such Americana has spread across to the other side of the planet as well.

No, this post is not about my mother, nor is it to rant about Mother's Day.  It is about "mother" Lucy and the home to all of us--you, me, and the rest of humanity as well.  Lucy--not the redhead on television who made us laugh--but the fossil in Ethiopia is what I am referring to.  And, hence, the motherland of all of humanity--Africa.

I routinely ask students if they have upper division courses that were only about Africa's countries and peoples.  It is a rare student who has something to say.  To most students Africa is something out there.  A blob. Irrelevant.

I remind them about Africa's size.  A few eyes wake up to the realization that if one country of Congo itself is that big, then the continent is "yuge."  About how tiny Oregon is compared to Tanzania. I tell them about the demographic future--that population growth this century will happen in Africa.  And about the noticeable uptick in the economies of the countries.  To the scientifically inclined, I even suggest knowing more about "mitochondrial Eve."

It is unfortunate that the university where I teach is like most colleges and universities that continue to remain Euro-centric in what we teach.  Everything from literature to the social sciences is mostly about Europe and North America, with a little bit about South and Central America. It is pathetic that even my university offers more courses about Slovakia and the Balkans than about Africa and its countries.

The result is that most students never, ever encounter Africa in their formal education. I would not be surprised if they then graduate with nothing but the old stereotypes of Africa.

Awful!

So, here's a suggestion for Mother's Day: In addition to wishing the mothers around you: do whatever you can in order to get away from those old stereotypes about Africa.    

Celebrate!

On Mothers ... wisdom from the old country

A continuation of sorts of the posts over the years.

Growing up in India, there was no concept of a special day for mothers.  Or fathers.

In my initial years in the US, the concept of wishing mother or father seemed strange.  Very odd.  The idea of wishing on a designated day is the strange part that is, not the idea of recognizing the mother's importance in life.

I would imagine that mothers were way up high in pretty much every culture's list of important people, and the old country emphasized it in so many different ways.  A long, long time ago, we learnt a verse in the Sanskrit class in high school:

राजपत्नी गुरोः पत्नी मित्रपत्नी तथैव च
पत्नीमाता स्वमाता च पञ्चैता मातरः स्मृताः
- चाणक्य नीति

Transliteration:
raajapatnI guroH patnI mitrapatnI tathaiva cha
patnImaataa svamaataa cha pa~nchaitaa maataraH smRutaaH
- chaaNakya nIti

Meaning of the subhAShita:
The king's wife, the teacher's wife, friend's wife, wife's mother and his own birth mother - these 5 should be deemed as mother figures

The source from where I copied and pasted it has a commentary on the deeper meanings of this verse.

I have had an incredibly lucky life with wonderful motherly women.  As I noted in this post, my mother, grandmothers, and aunts, made sure that my life was sweet--literally as well.  Older friends here in the US sometimes treat me as their son.  Life can't be that bad then.

Incidentally, another verse advises to keep mothers, fathers, and teachers also happy.  I hope students in my classes are reading this post ;)  It is from Manusmriti--the Laws of Manu--which is about 2,000 to 2,500 years old.  Manu wrote:

तयोर्नित्यं प्रियं कुर्यात् आचार्यस्य च सर्वदा ।
तेष्वेव त्रिषु तुष्टेषु तपः सर्वं समाप्यते ॥

- मनुस्मृति

One must do all he can to keep his parents and teacher happy. 

If they are satisfied it is equivalent to any (all) penance.

- Manu Smriti

It has been thirty-plus years since my last Sanskrit class.  It has at least served one purpose--I continue to remember and value the verse on the five mothers.