Happy Mother’s Day Pakistan

Adil Najam

Today is Mother’s Day. All days should be mother’s days.

While some of the crass commercialism that such occasions fall prey to can be disingenuous, it is good to take out the time to appreciate that which we should always be appreciating, but which we often do not. Silly discussions about whether Mother’s Day is "Islamic" or not or whether it is "Pakistani" enough or not are, at least to me, exactly that. Silly. Affection for mother is a human emotion beyond religious or nationalistic constraints. If anyone has doubts, this picture should remove them.

I found the picture on Flickr, posted by Masd. Taken in October 2007, the caption reads: "A poem in Urdu is written to pay tribute to ‘Mother’ on the wall of a hotel on Super Highway between Hyderabad and Karachi in Pakistan." The composition is captivating in its sheer simplicity. The fact that this is the Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz Ajmeri Hotel is itself worth a full post; but that is not for now. Whether it is a ‘hotel’ or a ‘resturant’ may be a matter of Pinglish and remains to be determined. Given that the door leads to the "Family Room" one assumes it may be the latter.

But the real text here is the poem titled ‘Maan’ (‘Mother’) written on the wall:

Meri zindagi ka ajab rung tha maaN
Maza woh kahaN jo teray sung tha maaN

Taira dast-i-shafqat marey sar pay hoota
meiN gham kay toofan meiN kabhi bhi na roota

BijhaR kar tujh say yeh haal ho gaya hai
Mera jeena sach much mahal ho gaya hai

Samajh kuch nahiN kaisay jeewan guzaarouN
meiN khud bigRRi taqdeer kaisay sawaarouN

Araz hai rabb say, yeh ahsaan karna
mairi maaN ko mujh say judaa kabhi na karna

This is clearly in the realm of public poetry of the type that one might also see on public transport vehicles, but for the same reason it is deeply heartfelt and moving for its sentiment if not for its craftsmanship. The sentiments are similar to those in the Mother’s Day poetry and songs we had featured last year, but the authenticity of the expression make this picture all the more moving.

Most importantly, whoever wrote this (the name is written on the bottom left corner but is not readable) proves the one point I wish to make on this Mother’s Day: Every day should be mother’s day, and whether we choose to celebrate it or not, let us never forget to appreciate all that mothers do, every day.