As Beautiful As Your Work

Beauty and brains are not an exclusive preserve of young working women. Right? Let me introduce you to an unlikely muse – an elderly homemaker, living on her own in a quaint little bungalow. So fierce is her passion for life, that she defies other stereotypes of beauty.


Is her work as beautiful as her looks? Well, you be a judge of that!

Her life was a fairy tale. A loving husband, two kids and an active social life - she had it all. Years flew past, her daughter got married and her son moved abroad for work. Then one day, it all began to fall apart. She watched the love of her life slip away, as the emperor of maladies snatched her husband at a time when she needed him the most. Her house was burgled. She had to wrestle with the UP police, threatening calls, income tax authorities and uncooperative banks. For a tech-befuddled lady, who never stepped out alone, challenges came from every direction. She knew that the only way out of difficulty was through it. 


When she decided to live on her own, treasuring her independence, she made her first impactful presentation.

When she enrolled in a computer class at age sixty-five, she made her presentation. Read Here

When she refused to pay a bribe, stood in the queue for hours to get her passport renewed, she made her presentation. “Why didn’t you pay a travel agent to do it for you?”
“I’d rather buy a ring with that money,” she quipped. And she did.

When she traveled to the US and held her own against a rude immigration officer, she made her presentation. “Why do you come here every year?” insulted the officer.
Misty eyed she replied, “Who wants to come here? If it wasn’t for my grandson, I wouldn’t visit your country.”

When she teaches underprivileged children associated with NGO’s, she makes her presentation.

Today, when she fights for pension, rectification of inflated electricity bills or errors in house-tax computation, she continues to make her spirited presentations. 

Ma with her grandson

 She is my mother, aged seventy. She zings up life with unbridled optimism to be a part of everything that is contemporary. Unlike me, she laughs easily, owns an exquisite collection of saris and loves meeting people. As I write, she pings me to FaceTime on her latest gizmo. No, it’s not about a recipe. She wants inputs on downloading a new app. I don’t know what or who guides her to face such tumults at this age. What I do know is that when one loses hope, one loses everything. And Ma thrives on hope.

Ma, you show what courage is all about,

And we are proud of the things you do,

I am no poet but I would like to say

Your work and your style are as beautiful as you.

Someone rightly said that age is just an opportunity in another dress. As the evening twilight fades, the sky is filled with stars invisible by the day.