"Mother of"

 "Mother of" is a curious expression indeed. Beyond the physical expression obviously involved, it has unusual interpretative possibilities. "Mother of pearl", for instance, is as precious as the human mother.

During the Bush-Blair tactical siege of Iraq in multiple modes was born the term "mother of all wars". Thereafter, memes of this mode of expression proliferated fecundly. A truly fertile expression "mother of" was. So you had "mother of success" stories, "mother of" a win, anything and everything under the sun, but not merely of the son. "Mother of" suggests anything and everything on a huge scale, most often in its best avatar, at least in its noteworthy version. What a tribute to motherhood indeed!

Unfortunately, however, in many a language, all the dirty curse words are always related to the mother relationship, followed closely by the sister, who, anyways, is often the 'little mother'. Why indulge in such nasty native (non-)sense, generated by the patriarchy, right?

Instead, let me tell you a story of Iravati Karve, in a way, the mother of  anthropology and sociology in Maharashtra/India. Apparently, she is feted fabuously at work. When she is returning home, at the gate, she hears,"see, here is the mother of...(her child's name)" which makes her truly elated.

Well, in a way, it has happened to me. Once while coming back to Pune for a weekend, I boarded the Mahatma Society Bus at the Pune railway station terminus/bus depot. At the next stop, got in this smart kid who chose to sit next to me. He asked me where I was to get off, and when I answered "Woodland", he asked me my surname. When I said "Agnihotri", he said, "Oh, the aunt of..." (my nephew's name), with such a lovely intimate feel that my day was made.  Anyways, "aunt of", if you remembe the Marathi proverb, is not so very distant from "mother of" indeed!

pratima@for the world, mother is a word; for the child, the word is the world.