This year, I went all out for Mother’s Day.

And it turned out to be quite a rollercoaster; nothing I planned actually materialized.

But before I dive into that, let me give you a little heads-up. My mom is an extremely simple being.

Well-educated, yes, but absolutely clueless about social media trends, hashtags, and the whole “Mother’s Day hype.” She chooses to live this way, a slow, simple, no-fuss life.

And for most of my life, I’ve wanted to be the opposite. Always catching up with trends, doing what’s “in.” But now, after becoming a mom myself, I finally get a glimpse into the feelings she must have felt.

Anyway here’s what I planned for the big day. A surprise ice cream (kesar pista—her favorite), a bouquet of flowers, and a relaxing pedicure for the 11th of May.
It was all meant to be a sweet surprise for the much-awaited Mother’s Day…well, much-awaited by me.

At 8 a.m., I called her up, full of excitement, and wished her “Happy Mother’s Day, Ma!”And her response?“Kya?” Yup, just “kya.”

And no, it wasn’t because she didn’t hear me properly. It was because she genuinely didn’t remember—or rather, didn’t care for it.

Honestly? I was a bit irked. This happens every year. She simply doesn’t feel the weight of Mother’s Day like I do. Almost as if she doesn’t care. And then it hit me.
She really doesn’t.

Her simplicity doesn’t let her grasp the idea of this modern, trendy, one day love that we bestow on all the mothers of the world.

Her love is too simple, too quiet, too consistent to be confined to a day on the calendar.

My Ma and Nani talk every single day, “Khana khaya?” “Tabiyat?” and so many other topics that so simply, so beautifully find their way in their conversations. They show up for each other, every single day. And that, I guess, is their version of Mother’s Day. Not grand gestures. Not perfectly filtered captions. Just presence. Just being there.
A love so steady, you don’t need to mark it on a calendar.

And you know what? I will consider myself lucky if I build that kind of connection with my son. A bond that exists not just on the second Sunday of May, but all year round.

Because that’s the kind of motherhood I’ve witnessed all my life.
And I’m learning from the best – my maa.

P.S. The Kesar Pista Ice cream got delivered and she enjoyed it thoroughly. Pedicure and flowers didn’t make it through this mother’s day.