Ok, so I admit I have been cribbing from the beginning of this May. The sweltering heat added to my trauma of managing routine, creative summer camps, commitments, three kids ( 2 are tomcats if you remember) and to add to it my cook goes on a vacation and the helper now threatened me with an impending week of truant. So, I just headed off alone to my maternal home (I refer to it as moms house now) and just enjoyed the ‘me-time’. I caught up on some literature and enjoyed time alone as mom had back to back assignments. She is NOW a rangoli-kolam artist! 
I did not miss the home slippers (am addicted to them) as I enjoyed the soft, cool, comfort of the mosaic tiles. My mind flashed to the era when we never had a maid, dad helped with cutting vegetables, I was lazy and my brother was little. The builder had given us the flat with very hard flooring i.e. mosaic tiles. My child during her crawling milestones, would actually be amused and would keep touching this particular black one which was a misfit in the pattern. Nowadays, she spots them in select museums and relates to the ones in tathi’s house.
Mom actually used to scrub the hard mosaic tiles with her bare hands so that it gets even and more so because the coarseness hurt our little feet. I remember, she did it for several years, using homemade soap (the ones like magic noodles which was a DIY penchant of the late 70’s) and also using pure gasoline to scrub it with a scrupulous brush. It hurt her hands but she never said a word. The results were evident and there it shines till date. We both kids will never dare to suggest a makeover to marble flooring. This is her toil, her sincere contribution as a selfless person.
She actually worshiped the ground; there is where her roots are! Scrubbing meticulously and then anointing it decoratively with kolam. Multi-talented in art, she made it a point to keep up with the new trends and designs in kolam art. Some were traditional ones and some modern trends were infused in the rice batter to win the praises of many. It is so enterprising to know that now she offers professional kolam services for events. Life began for her at sixty. Today is mother’s day, and this is an ode to her from both her kids.
“The proof of her toil, the soothing mosaic.
Glows with time, like her, afar from prosaic.
Feel the innocence from a mile.
This is my mom and her beatific smile”.
