The Business Bytes
PRIYABRAT BISWAL
BHUBANESWAR, MAY 14, 2023
Seeing today’s newspapers flooded with Mother’s Day messages, my little niece asked me – “Mamu, why didn’t you write a message for ‘Bou’? You could have won a prize!”
I preferred to remain silent rather than giving a reply to her, as I didn’t have suitable words to explain to a 10-year-old girl that in literary circles the best one does not always win, but the smarter ones do.
Well, in our childhood and even in college days we hadn’t heard of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. These are western cultures that have invaded our Indian society – partly because of globalization and mostly due to the change in the mindset of our younger generation that blindly follows the western culture in its worst form, and most importantly a culture arising in our publicity hungry society.
Taking advantage of these factors, some media houses invite messages –that too for a fee – from people on such occasions alluring them with offers of attractive prizes. And, the most gullible younger generation falls prey to such advertisements and publishes paid messages in hope of winning prizes. These people simply don’t try to understand the business angle of such advertisements and don’t even care to think that this is not the only way to express our love, care and gratitude for our Mother. Even other merchandisers earn huge profit by selling cards, gifts and other goodies.
Conceived by American social activist Anna Jarvis – following her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis’ death in 1905 – Mother’s Day is celebrated in the USA and some other parts of the world on the second Sunday of May every year as an occasion of honouring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. But the saddest part of the story is that Anna, who conceived the idea of Mother’s Day, got disillusioned as the Day got commercialized and centered on presenting gifts which benefited the merchandisers rather than meeting its real purpose what Anna had thought of while campaigning for it. She even lobbied the American government to see it removed from the holiday list of the calendar. It may be recalled that influenced by her strong lobby, in the year 1914 the then US President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.
Hope, you remember Indian actress and model Manushi Chhillar, who was the winner of the Miss World 2017 pageant.
During the final Question & Answer round in the Miss World competition, Chhillar was asked: “Which profession should receive the highest salary in the world?” And her reply was: “… I think that a mother deserves the highest respect…All mothers, they just sacrifice so much for their kids. So, I believe the profession which deserves the highest salary, respect and love should be of a mother.” And this sensational answer that won her the crown of Miss World on November 18, 2017.
Rudyard Kipling had rightly said: “God could not be everywhere, and therefore, he made mothers”!
Besides birth and death, if there is any third universal truth in this world, it’s “Mother”.
A mother’s love for her children is unconditional and pure. Mothers play different roles in the lives of their children and make numerous sacrifices to provide them with everything they need. Mother’s Day serves as an opportunity to recognize the efforts that our mothers put in to make sure that we always excel. So, if we really want to celebrate it to show our love and respect to our mother – who is the epitome of love and sacrifice – we should do it from our heart; and not just show off or follow the western culture.
