Parental Love
God cannot be everywhere, so he moulded humans into " parents", once in their lifetime, after the humans attain maturity post adulthood, to guide their young ones. So we all are fortunate to have our parents and their love and guidance.
In western population, post the age of eighteen, children are on their own. They study in their own, live on their own, incur expenses on their own, get job on their own. They follow, survival of the fittest strategy. It's like the law of the jungle, wherein even birds throw their little one out of their nest ,after a certain period of time, so that they get over their fright to fly and fly on their own, to survive.
Here in India, things are different. Here parents don't want their children to do the same mistake like theirs and guide them and make them stay with them in the same house, helping with their savings and guiding them, cooking for them, nourishing them with love and care. It's only the female child that leaves her home post marriage, to enter a new life, a new home, a new family, to make her own.
As we grow older, we become so busy with our lives and so used to our parents being there for us and helping us that we forget to ask them if they are fine, if they had their food, if they slept properly, specially when our parents are post the age of 55.
But they are so affectionate, that they forget and forgive our shortcomings and love us still the same.
We have a lot of venerations or pujas in Hindu household, more so, if you are born as a Bengali.
Here we have a Puja called Neel Puja, which falls before the Bengali New Year, each year, wherein the mother fasts the entire day and offers her prayers to Lord Shiva to protect her children from danger. At evening, the mother, lights an oil lamp in front of the God. Each lamp is for each child in the family. Now for a young mother, fasting can be considered easy in comparison to a mother who is more than 65 years of age and has health complications like thyroid, blood pressure and the like. Here in India, as one ages gracefully, or not, diseases both acute and chronic appear and we start living with the disease in our day to day life, with or without a proper control of it, like regular blood pressure reading, blood tests, doctor consultations and the like.
If you look into the population of India and the number of hospital visits, female population visiting doctors for taking care of their health is less in number, cause they are busy taking care of their family. They neglect their own health for the better health and happiness of their near and dear ones.
In one such Puja, Neel Puja, a wife who is mother of two married daughters, is on her fast.
She cooks food for her husband, does the daily chores of the house. Nobody has seen her eating or having tea or drinking water. Nobody asked also. Everyone is busy in their lives.
In her married life of 38 years, she was taken aback when her better half offered her tender coconut water. She asked, "Where is yours? " He said, "I will have, but you take this..... "
She did not consider that he gave her his share of the coconut water. She drank it and thanked him. Later it came to her notice, when she looked into the waste basket, and saw only the leftover single green coconut.
She then asked him, "Why have you given me, your share of the tender coconut water? Why? The doctor told you to consume it once daily, why did you give it to me? "
He smiled and replied, " Because you are fasting for the betterment of the lives of our children ."
She was at a loss of words and felt shy at this old age. She lowered her head and smiled shyly.
When her children in the entire day did not ask, what she had takenfor the day, how her entire day went, or if she was fearing or not, her husband was taking care of her, like a shadow.
This is parental love or love at old age?Whatever it can be coined at, all I believe is love blossoms anytime, all that is needed is a patient heart which sees the effort taken, the good thoughts within and the smile that is an inspiration for writers and poets, worldwide. Love is tender, love is pure. Here it is sharing..... no it is Giving... Love is giving.....
One should take pride of having such parents who are ever loving and ever caring, 24*7.
This "One" stands for all of us and specifically for the child within us.