MOTHER is the most beautiful and astonishing word in the universe. In India, ‘mother’ has more meaning than it can actually convey. We all must have observed how the roles of mothers have changed significantly over the years. Mothers today enjoy a status that was unimaginable about 50 years before. She is no longer a person confined within the four walls of her house, absorbed in the needs of her family members, without the least concern for herself. Now mothers are self-reliant and self-sufficient. They have shown their potential and caliber not only to their family members but also to a lot of people outside. Mothers today enjoy impressive positions in the family and in their workplace as well.
The traditional role of mothers
It’s true that mothers enjoyed a prestigious status in India. But still they were not allowed to move out of their designation as a home maker. Though they were powerful enough, they could never ascend the role of a father, the supreme figure of authority. The change they experience today didn’t happen all of a sudden, it came out of patience and will (though there can be exceptions). They gradually began to feel less comfortable with the gender roles imposed on them and wished to come out of it.
Their role today
We used to think that a woman especially a mother cannot single handedly rear a family. But this concept has been uprooted by working mothers. There are families where the mother takes over the roles of both the father and the mother. She is now capable of performing almost all the tasks that were formerly tagged as jobs exclusively for men. My mother who was a teacher, used to repair our TV and my brother’s bicycle and our father never even knew about all this until one of us mentioned. When he came to know, he would often happily respond with “good to hear that your amma saved my 150 rupees this time”.
It’s not a surprise to say that mothers now are very skillful at a lot of things. They can take the best of their efforts for their kids, husband, and other elderly members and then carry on with their work and other related external affairs perfectly. No doubt that she is obsessed with her family but she can also equally concentrate on her career and job obligations. They are well aware of their status as an earning member who happily provides for her family. She goes for work, comes back in the evening and then cooks, cleans and takes care of her beloved ones like a machine that never gets exhausted. They also know how important it is to be healthy if they are to take good care of their families. They are bold and self-opinionated too (an aspect which was absent in the traditional scenario).
Classifying and describing the new roles of a mother is not as simple as if feels, considering the time they took to reach this stage. Mothers will forever be nothing less than miracles, no matter whatever change may occur.
