"Nani, don’t worry about “Nme, worry about your career.” My mother tells me over the cell phone. These words really touch me. How truly great a mother can be! In the journey of life, we meet tens of thousands of people, but we hardly find a person who gives unconditional love like a mother.

Friends, relatives and well-wishers come and go like ads on television. But a mother always remains there on our side, even in old age. She empties herself for the sake of her children. She only knows to give but does not know what a “return’’ feels like. There is no one else who can take her place.

I have a circle of married friends who care and love their wives more than their own mothers. For them, their wives are the world to them, not their mothers. A mother is not only a procreator but also an inspirer to her children. Moreover, she is a sea of etiquette who takes the initiative to shape her children into a good human. She does not just say ‘go ahead’ with every venture we kiss like other people. There is her active hand and motherly blessing behind our entire success. A mother is our living history. A mother is the world to us. Gods and goddesses are a myth, but a mother is a real goddess.

A mother is synonymous with an ocean of love and mercy.

She sees all her children with equal eyes. I still remember my mother employing all sorts of efforts to get my brother to get recruited in the armed forces.

“Everything should be done at the right time,’’ she used to say.

She was there all the time to encourage my brother to join the army. In recent times, respect for the mother is eroding. The new generation does not want to take any responsibility towards their mothers. Mothers are misread and mistreated.

Mothers are pushed into oldage homes. They do not bother to understand the immense sacrifices a mother has made for their proper upbringing.

Our world is very different from the one our mothers had, but it doesn’t mean that their experience and knowledge are totally invalid. Their ripe experience could be a life-long guidance and a source of inspiration for us. They are like the setting sun. We should inherit their experience and knowledge. A well-cultured family, society and nation are possible only if the mothers are well treated. To take care of our mothers is to ensure our well-being through their blessings. We can never repay the debt we owe our mothers, but at least we can do a little something every day to bring a smile on her wrinkled face.