I got a call from a distant land. My eldest son from Canada called me in the morning. The way he calls me "atha"( Tamil equivalent for mother) thrills me. I recall the day when he first called me so. He was nine months old when he started to articulate words. The word "atha" came to him so easily.
he rolled his tongue and pronounced "ath "then he sat dumb for a few second then struggled with the 'aa". The next time he could say it with more ease and thereafter it was a play to him.
He is a father of two children and still he calls me with the same fervour and affability. his daughter, now a six-year-old , makes fun of him when he addresses me as'atha". I spent a month with him last year in Mississauga, Canada. Those days are absolutely unforgettable. As soon as he returns fro his office, he would open the door and cry out for me.His daughter would rush to him and ask him, why are you so fond of your mother? and would come to me and tell" your son has come".After a wash, he would come and sit close to me, would take my hand and keep it over his. We would talk for hours together. Time was not the criteria, nor were his children and wife. It was I, who would ask him to go to bed as it was getting late.
The word "atha" was taken up by my other two sons. They, in their own way, call me with great fondness. It is that word, from my sons, keep me going all through these years.
Long live my sons.
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