My mother's life diary

by Surbhi Valia
(Mumbai, India)

People say that studies are God gifted. If you have it in your destiny then you will study further. Well I think otherwise.

I was pursuing a professional degree course. It was like a dream come true for my parents since no one in my family had attained any professional degree. I was the first one to become a professional in my family.

However, the course was quite difficult especially the finals. I was not able to clear the last semester of my finals. It was getting difficult for me to concentrate on my examinations as our financial health was not good.

I had to take up a job in next few days and then it would be even more difficult to study.
My relatives used to laugh at me saying, "what will happen if you do not pass your next examinations again?"

I felt so demotivated and sad. Then I thought I'll just quit and concentrate on my job, because earning was more important for me at that moment.

One day I was thinking about talking to my mother about my decision on leaving my professional course as I had no time left after my office hours.

I thought I'll tell her that it was becoming difficult for me to manage my classes and office both and that I was feeling very tired day by day. Before I could speak to her, she gave me her life diary. The diary was like an eye opener for me.

After reading that diary I couldn't imagine what all my mother has gone through in her life before marriage and after marriage. My mother had gone through such rough times in her life and not even once did I see her griping or crying about it.

In fact, she always encouraged me and told me that these are phases of life which shall pass away.

Even when she and her parents did not have any thing to eat or earn a living for themselves, she did not think even once about quitting. She earned by writing an article for a local magazine and earned INR 200 which was a lot for her at that time.

Reading her diary made me realize that ups and downs are part and parcel of life and without them life is incomplete. These are testing times which makes us strong and gives us ability to face anything that life has to offer in future.

At that moment I thought that I was so foolish to even think of quitting. Then I promised my mother that no matter the situation I will clear my examinations and I will study along with my office.

From then on I started attending my classes which used start at 6.45am in the morning for three hours and then I used go to my office. I used reach home by 11.30pm in the night and again leave home at 5.45am next morning for my classes. I used study on weekends. I used eat my breakfast and lunch in the bus and sleep while traveling.

All the hard work paid in the end when I cleared my examination in the next attempt with 50% marks which is about average. My parents were very proud of me and I could see tears in their eyes.

Now I am married and I still have my mother's diary with me which is still an inspiration for me. It always reminds me of one thing - that you should never quit out of any situation.

Situations are like a river, the water that passes never comes back. So never quit and always keep moving.