Moms are smart, aren’t they? Even though we know that, there are so many things they say that we merrily ignore, and then regret when faced with the consequences of our action/inaction! Here are a few that I think about everyday.
1. “wash your face at least twice a day” – Sure, I proudly wear my teenage acne scars, like they are battle scars, but deep down I regret ignoring mom’s sane advice to wash the grubby face twice a day with an oil-free face wash. Too late to start now!
2. “Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize” – Although it is not too late to start moisturizing my skin now, I wish I had listened to her, so that I would have struck a routine of rubbing lotion all over myself, EVERY SINGLE DAY! Now I do, but very cursorily, who would bother to waste a good 15 mins doing that when you could be reading a book?
3. “Always strike a nice pose for your pictures” – I used to hate getting clicked, and was always sulky when asked to pose. I look back on my preteen and teenage pics and I shudder. There is an oily, grubby nerd staring back at the camera with a very awkward half-smile.
4. “Come and have conversations with relatives” – Yeah! We(bro and I) never believed in socializing. While mom was the very definition of social animals, my bro and I locked ourselves in our rooms, reading books, playing games or whatever. I sulked and sat on the sofa for a minute or so, when called to greet the visitors, but the brother was a step ahead of me. He acted like he was asleep. The result was that I was always dragged away from my beloved books and forced to sit with people. Little did I know that being an adult also means being social. Now I am so bad at making new friends, keeping in touch etc, that I wish I had put some more effort into being a social animal. Now it is too late to start, because I am so set in my ways.
5. “Wake up early” – This is another beautiful thing about being an adult and haunts me everyday. Growing up, I used to wake up at a merry 10.00am every day. When I started working though, it changed and ofcourse the night shifts. Now if I am late in waking up, I know I will be late to work, resulting in my being late going back home late, which in turn means I would sleep late, and wake up late the next day, blah blah blah! I wish I had listened to her advice then, so waking up early would not have been an everyday battle of wits.
6. “Learn to stitch etc” – Every time I spot a cute, overpriced skirt or a top at stores Shoppers Stop and the likes, I cringe. If I knew how to sew, I would have made it myself, and also felt immense satisfaction. Not to mention, a creative vent! Now I am having to spend a 1000s of hard earned money on overpriced crap that I love to wear, but would have been stitched in a jiffy, with double stitching, no less! Sasta and tikau.
Things I am glad I listened to:
1. “Have pride in yourself” – this is something I probably did not need any lessons on, nevertheless, mom always kept drilling it into our head that you are what you think of yourself, nothing less, nothing more. Smart words.
2. “Stand up for yourself, don’t lose your voice” – No one else will come to rescue you, you will have to do it for yourself. Speak out or shut up and don’t complain.
3. “Always listen to your instincts, especially when it comes to men” – this one has stood me in good stead. The men I have been leery of for no reason, more often than not turn out to be pigs
4. “Don’t wait for the other person, the brother, the friend etc to do something you want done. If you can do it yourself, do it!” – I have seen my mom take charge of tasks and complete them at her own pace(which is frenetic) as opposed to waiting for my dad to do them. More often than not, whenever she has waited for dad to do something, things always got done the last second. I have inherited this trait from her. If I am desperate to get something done, I go out and do it. It may be as small as getting something from the local shop, to as big as booking flight tickets!
