Monstrous mothers
Manukku maram barama, (Is a tree burden to earth?)
marathukku ilai barama, (Is a leaf burden to a tree?
kodikku kai barama, (Is a fruit burden to climber?)
pettradutha kuzhandai thaikku barama, (Is a child burden to mother)
While basking in the warmth of the song one morning, it was an irony that I ended up reading a news report that completely threw me off the balance. It was a dreadful story about a young woman who repeatedly assaulted her infant to win back her lover. A 22-year-old woman from Chithoor in Andhra Pradesh, was recently arrested for repeatedly assaulting her 18-month-old baby. She not just tortured the baby but took videos of the same and sent it to her boyfriend to placate him, who had been maintaining a distance ever since the birth of the child under the pretext that the child resembled the father.
Separated from her husband a few months ago, the young woman, who also has a child aged 4, was at her mother's when the incident happened. After the videos of the woman brutally beating her baby went viral, one of the relatives who happened to see it, informed the father of the children who rushed to take them back with him. The woman was taken into custody for culpable homicide and assault.
Unable to make sense of the situation, my first thought was that maybe the woman was mentally ill or had some psychological issues. But no! She was declared to be normal and stable. It was appalling to learn that she inflicted such brutal wounds on her little one with her fist! Images of her arrest flashed on media showed her moving with the least remorse.
Similarly, a couple of days ago, I was rattled by yet another report about a mother murdering her 3-year-old daughter as she felt the child sided with her father most of the time!
It is quite disturbing to see a rise in such cases of child abuse by parents, especially young mothers. I am not advocating that a woman, on becoming a mother, should dedicate her life to her child, pushing aside her needs and wants. There could be numerous factors and circumstances, favourable and unfavourable, which may have led to the conception. What beats me is the logic behind harassing an infant, more precisely one’s own child, to foster an illicit affair or make a point. This is an abuse of motherhood.
I am no judge of the travails of anyone and I am well aware that each person’s life journey is unique. But having grown up in a culture celebrating mothers as synonyms of love and sacrifice, I unable to stomach such heinous acts. While on one hand, there are parents who go overboard with their love hampering the natural development of children, there are monstrosities like these that completely shake you up.
Children have always been my weakness. My son constantly teases me that I go bonkers at the sight of babies and young children and become oblivious to the world around me. Perhaps it is this penchant that helped me switch my two-decade-long journalistic career to being a Montessori adult with ease. And it is for the same reason, I am deeply affected by news stories concerning children. Haunted by the painful cries of the hurting infant, I lie awake in bed with an ardent prayer: God! Save the little ones!
“The essence of motherhood is not restricted
to women who have given birth; it is a principle inherent in both women and
men. It is an attitude of the mind. It is love - and that love is the very
breath of life. No one would say, 'I will breathe only when I am with my family
and friends; I won't breathe in front of my enemies.' Similarly, for those in
whom motherhood has awakened, love and compassion for everyone are as much part
of their being as breathing.” - Mata Amritanandamayi
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