Of course, what I said about my mother in my last blog is not the whole truth. As I age, I admire my mother more and more for the way she lives her life. At 91, she is still very independent -- runs her own household with a cook, a maid, a cleaning guy, a gardener and a driver; she buys her own rations in a very organized way so that she is never out of any supplies; she is involved in every aspect of her life, and engaged with it fully. every winter her garden is easily the best in the neighborhood -- people often stop and take photos of the flowers; her house is clean as a whistle. It is painted and polished inside and out almost every year; just a few months ago she had someone upholster all the furniture in the house. now, in mango season, she makes sure the mangos are off the four trees in the backyard before the neighbors get to them, and distributed equally to all the many family members. and occasionally she still arranges flowers in vases for her room.
I can only hope that I am just a fraction of what she is when I am 91!
General Laj, your mother, is full of contradictions...living the life of Old India (fading) in the face of New India. She's one of the more impressive people I've met in her attention to her home and the material world. It surely has driven your family nuts, but for who she is, what she has experienced in 91 years, she's done the best she can.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that she's raging against the night before the Big Sleep, is yet another example of how we prepare for that journey. It may not be our way, but it's also a reminder to keep things ship-shape and not turn sloppy in whatever our practice is....for your mother this has been the Home...and it must be a very deep and important symbol of her hopes and dreams.