Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Come what may , how can mother be an ill omen?

Come what  may , how can mother be  an ill omen?

By
P.R.Ramachander



(It had been practice  among  most of  us , that  a widowed mother is not supposed  to participate  in the marriage   of her   children. Though   this custom has almost faded   away from most of our   families, there  was a report  about such  an incident  in  a newspaper (16th july)   and  Here  is an emotional appeal  to correct this anachronism , penned in Tamil   by the reporter (from post of my friend  Anantha  Narayanan-thanks to him  )

When  a mother who has lost  her   husband,
Feeds  her  baby , did we  say   that,
It is an act of ill omen   and not   desirable,
And   that we   will  feed  her  little baby?

When a motherwho has  lost  her husband  ,
Sends  her  children to  school to study ,
Did we    say   that  it is an ill omen,
And we shall  send them to school.

When the  mother  who has lost  her husband ,
Offers dowry and presents  to the groom,
Did we   say   that   is an ill omen ,
And so  we  do not want them from her.

But when the mother  who has  lost  her  husband,
Comes  to see  her  children getting  happily married,
How    come we   say   that   is  an ill omen ,
And   see to it   that   even  her shadow does not fall there.

But when the   father  who has lost   his  wife  ,
After  arranging the marriage  and comes to attend it,
How come   we do not say that it is act of ill omen,
But   say  it is very appropriate and is very desirable.





1 comment:

CPC said...

Very thoughtful of you to have written on this illogical and cruel practice. I have no words to condemn the practice of avoiding ladies who have lost their husbands in family functions. If you take a stand based on our religion which talks about the immutable atman, there is no way you can justify this. Recently, I attended a marriage and was searching for the mother of the bridegroom to convey my best wishes but could not meet her at all. I learnt that she wanted to avoid us , being a woman who lost her husband a few years ago. It is also sad that ladies themselves are the perpetrators of this custom.