Mother Love

June 30, 2014 07:29 pm | Updated 07:58 pm IST

Here’s Shankari Appaji on the guiding spirit of her life, her mother Saroja.

Mother’s day is long over but that doesn’t mean we stop talking about our moms, does it? Mine is a super woman and one of a kind. My mother has been creating beautiful brides for 25 years now in the Queen of Hills, Ooty at Uma ladies beauty parlour.

Being the first child in a joint family, she learnt everything the hard way. She was married at the age of 15 and to her surprise marriage brought in happiness. She finished her education with the support of my father and pursued her interests. Starting a beauty salon in the 80s in a town with hardly anyone interested in beauty services was not ideal. But she went ahead nevertheless and has never looked back. That is probably the only reason she has clients from all over the world coming to her even today.

Life hasn’t been exactly fair to her. She lost her pillar of support (my dad), when I was only two, and faced so much angst as a single woman. She has walked over thorns and stones and the only thing that kept her going was me. She is the strongest woman I know. I have never felt the absence of a father. She was strict with me and I have had my share of whacking, but that has only made me a better and more responsible person.

Every single person who knows my mum wonders where she gets her strength from. Women look up to her, her clients have wanted to write books about her and her siblings have grown because of her.

She is still one of the best beauticians in town with a salon known for its quality service. I will never be able to be like her. But I wish to be a mother just like her and want my kids to be proud of me like I am of her.

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