An open letter to Mother India

DEAR MA, Today is Sunday, May 14. And we're told it's a day to celebrate and recognise motherhood. Waking up everyday to read about match-fixing, it has suddenly struck us how almost everything today is fixed. Cricket, Love, Competitions, Politics.... Now Ma, they have fixed a day for you.

They are telling us we need a day to show how much we care. A day to let our feelings out. It was not very long ago that we have slept on your lap. Nor is it too long after we bowed before you, touched your feet. Take your blessings before almost every important step we have taken in life.

We have been together, staying together since the day we were born. We have been together in moments of tragedy and happiness, shared our highs and lows, as one family.

But that's a nature so inherent in our country. Despite all our problems, we have been together, fighting our battles together. And today, they say we need a day, to pay our respects.

Agreed, we might not have been the best of the races in the world in expressing our emotions in the open. But is that reason enough to resort to gimmicks. Today, there are `Mother's Day' cards printed to sing your glory. They tell us we need to buy those Rs. 20 cards to show our love. They have fixed a price for it, Ma.

And in this age of the Internet, it doesn't matter to them even if you can't tell a mouse from a joystick. They want us to send you e-cards and they say they will deliver the messages home, free-of-cost. www.chennaionline.com, for instance. Like we stay miles apart.

They want us to feed you with pizza. On May 14, we could take you to a pizzeria and get you a free meal. Because, they say, it is a special way of saying ``Thank you for caring so much about me, for being part of my life and may you always know how very much I love you Mom.''

Who says no to freebies, Ma. But to avail ourselves of this offer, we read in fine print, that it is available exclusively to the Zzapi Fan Club members and valid only on production of a Zzapi membership card. We switch on the TV channels, we see the stars wish their Moms. On MTV, it was `Chillout' with Moms of the VJs. On Zee TV, it was the Suchitra Pillai and Madhavan telling their Moms how much they love them.

We open the newspapers and supplements, there are the special `Mother's Day' supplements and stories on the foreign history linked to it.

`Mother's Day' specials come with a price-tag. Why should any one be against Mother's Day?

After all, it gives another opportunity to show Mother we love her, and only incidentally helps the bottomlines of the corporates.

By Sudhish Kamath

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