Mero Ama
Her smile exudes kindness and warmth, her laugh lets me know that she is open-minded and likes being silly. She is my Nepali mother.
She tries to speak English with me but all she manages to say is “Me…. You…. Yeaaaahhhh!!!”
Her husband (from an arranged marriage) lives in their village, Dang, so she has raised her 3 kids alone for most of their lives.
Four years ago, her eldest son passed away. She once showed me his picture and it was the first time that I ever saw her so serious. I watched tears fill her eyes, and when she walked away, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I followed her to her room and watched her look at the photo longingly and caress her son with her eyes. The photo stays locked up in her cabinet and is rarely brought out.
Every morning, she wakes up and performs her puja. She lights candles and incense and prays to photos of Hindu gods. Then she puts tikka on herself, and afterwards, all of her daughters (including me), blessing them, wishing them to become good, big people, and giving them a slice of fruit.
Every night she falls asleep to the radio. Actually, the entire house falls asleep to the radio because it’s on so dang loud and the walls are thin.
For such a religious, traditional woman, she is incredibly open-minded. She doesn’t mind her daughters being silly. She doesn’t mind us having dance parties in my room, even if our dancing is “sexy”. She doesn’t mind that her daughter Jyoti is obsessed with looking at herself in the mirror and beautifying herself. Not only does she not mind any of this – she joins in. She dances with us, laughs with us, acts silly with us, watches racy music videos with us.
For 3.5 weeks she has been in the village so all that I have written of her is of my memories of the first 2 weeks of my stay with the Acharyas. Ama was supposed to only be in the village for a week, but a number of things have delayed her departed – her husband’s uric acid, construction projects, bad weather, and now… bandas. Because of the current banda in her region she can’t come home until March 8th, and that’s only if something else doesn’t get in the way after that. At first, I didn’t mind having her gone, but now I am beginning to wonder if she will be back here at all before I leave this house.
Her smile exudes kindness and warmth, her laugh lets me know that she is open-minded and likes being silly. She is my Nepali mother.
She tries to speak English with me but all she manages to say is “Me…. You…. Yeaaaahhhh!!!”
Her husband (from an arranged marriage) lives in their village, Dang, so she has raised her 3 kids alone for most of their lives.
Four years ago, her eldest son passed away. She once showed me his picture and it was the first time that I ever saw her so serious. I watched tears fill her eyes, and when she walked away, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I followed her to her room and watched her look at the photo longingly and caress her son with her eyes. The photo stays locked up in her cabinet and is rarely brought out.
Every morning, she wakes up and performs her puja. She lights candles and incense and prays to photos of Hindu gods. Then she puts tikka on herself, and afterwards, all of her daughters (including me), blessing them, wishing them to become good, big people, and giving them a slice of fruit.
Every night she falls asleep to the radio. Actually, the entire house falls asleep to the radio because it’s on so dang loud and the walls are thin.
For such a religious, traditional woman, she is incredibly open-minded. She doesn’t mind her daughters being silly. She doesn’t mind us having dance parties in my room, even if our dancing is “sexy”. She doesn’t mind that her daughter Jyoti is obsessed with looking at herself in the mirror and beautifying herself. Not only does she not mind any of this – she joins in. She dances with us, laughs with us, acts silly with us, watches racy music videos with us.
For 3.5 weeks she has been in the village so all that I have written of her is of my memories of the first 2 weeks of my stay with the Acharyas. Ama was supposed to only be in the village for a week, but a number of things have delayed her departed – her husband’s uric acid, construction projects, bad weather, and now… bandas. Because of the current banda in her region she can’t come home until March 8th, and that’s only if something else doesn’t get in the way after that. At first, I didn’t mind having her gone, but now I am beginning to wonder if she will be back here at all before I leave this house.
