Mothers Day

Mothers Day

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Drama

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Chandrika Raghavan arrived at the auditorium with her husband and her twenty-two year old daughter. She was in her early fifties and had moved to the US in the mid-1990s to work for a global IT company. She had worked in different verticals: project delivery, business development, transformation, and innovation, but what stood her apart was her phenomenal work in the outsourcing industry. 

The incessant vibration of her phone irritated her; she pulled out the phone from her clutch. It was her mother's nurse from India. She quickly answered the phone, "Yes, Joey?"

"Madam, Amma's health is not good. Her health has deteriorated a lot in the last few days. Her breathing is uneven, and she has been constantly asking for you."

"Joey, I will speak to the doctor and get back to you." Chandrika called the doctor back home and requested that he visit her mother. Her mother had fallen ill a couple of years ago. She had requested her mother several times to come and stay with her, but each time her mother had declined, saying, "India is where my heart is, where my home is." To take care of her mother, she had hired a full-time nurse and set up a mini ICU at home.

She called Joey back and said, "The doctor will come to check on Amma. Can you please give the phone to Amma?" Joey gave the phone to her mother and said, "It's Chandrika, madam."

"Vanakkam Amma, How are you?"

"Chandru, my sweet. I miss you. I want to see you." Her mother's voice was very weak. Chandrika's heart filled with sadness upon hearing her feeble voice.

"Amma. I will come very soon. I've got good news. You know I have been named the Times Woman of the Year. It's a very prestigious honour."

"That's good. That's good."

"Amma, Amma."

"Madam, Amma is finding it difficult to speak. She sends her blessings." It was Joey.

"Tell her I will come very soon," Chandrika said wistfully and disconnected.

"She is the pioneer of outsourcing, our best import from India. Not only did she transform how business is conducted, but she also brought in a high level of efficiency, cut costs, and put our company on the must-have list of every shareholder in the world. The CEO's excited and proud voice echoed across the auditorium. "We knew it all along, and now the world knows it too. The Time's woman of the year is our very own Ms. Chandrika Raghavan. The hall exploded in boisterous applause and a few loud whistles. I would now like to call her up on the stage to share a few words with us."

An overwhelming sense of achievement and accomplishment overcame her as she rose from her chair and walked to the stage. Everything inside her had come alive; no drug could ever give her this high.

"Thank you, Mike, for the kind words," she said, shaking his hand and turning to face the audience. Everyone from her company, the board members, the CEO, and all the employees working in Silicon Valley were present. The event was telecast to the other members of the organisation in different parts of the world. It was a huge moment, not only for her but for the whole of the organisation, and the board wanted maximum mileage out of it.

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she put her speech note in front of her. She was dressed in a black glittering sari to mark the occasion. "Thank you, all. Thank you, thank you! I am really humbled to receive this honour. This wouldn't have been possible without the contributions of each and every member of this organisation. This honour is as much mine as it is yours." A loud cheer erupted, and she paused for a while, allowing the noise to subside.

"The timing of this couldn't have been more perfect. Today is Mother's Day, and I would like to dedicate this to my mother, who has been the source of my inspiration and in some ways taught me about outsourcing. When I was barely eight years old, my father left my mother for another woman. It fell upon her to earn the daily bread and pay for my education. Though we were poor, we had someone who would come to cook and clean. When I asked her about it, she replied, "I earn more in these two-three hours than I have to pay." That was my first lesson in outsourcing.

Outsourcing has made the world more efficient, but more than that, it has brought the world closer. Let this be a moment in the history of our organisation to remind us to continuously innovate and improvise to do things better and faster. Thank you once again, everybody." She folded her hands in Namaste and bowed down gracefully. Everyone present rose from their seat to applaud her. Her daughter clapped and whistled in excitement and ran up the stage to hug her. It was a proud and emotional moment for the Raghavan family.

The CEO gushed, "Are you excited about the gala coming up next week? They say the Times event is one of the events of the year. Members of the White House and other industry leaders will be present."

Chandrika smiled and said, "This is too surreal. Not even in my wildest imagination, I had thought of this."

The CEO laughed. "You deserve every bit of it."

One after another, the top executives of the organisation came and congratulated her. Two hours had gone by since Joey had called. It was evening, and everyone was enjoying drinks and dinner. Her daughter was clicking pictures of her and her husband when she sensed the vibrations of her phone. She opened her clutch to check on the phone. There were 10 missed calls from Joey.  

"Oh God!" she exclaimed and called Joey. "What is the matter, Joey?"

"Madam, Madam," Joey was panicking. "Amma is no more."

"What? How? Didn't the doctor visit?" Chandrika's heart sank, and she sat down. Her daughter, who was watching her, also sat down next to her.

"By the time he arrived, Amma had already stopped breathing."

"Oh!" Chandrika was dumbfounded for a moment and felt dizzy. She couldn't process this strange experience of feeling high and low at the same time.

"Amma kept taking your name in the last few moments." Joey said woefully.

There was silence from Chandrika's end; her ears only registered a distant, incomprehensible sound.

"Madam, what should I do?" Joey's raised voice brought Chandrika back to reality.

"I will call you back, Joey.

Chandrika sat with a stoic face, bottling the conflict inside her. You don't rise up the corporate ladder without keeping a lid on the real you. Her daughter placed her hand on hers and asked softly, "What's the matter, Ma?"

Chandrika took a deep breath and said, "Amma is no more."

"What?" Her daughter exclaimed that the shock was more at the timing of the news than the news itself. She barely knew her grandmother and had no emotional connection with her. But she understood how her mother felt. "What you gonna do now, Ma?"

"I don't know, sweetie. I might have to go to India."

"But, Ma, the gala is coming up."

She sighed. "Beta, I am her only family. There is no one to take care of the final rites. She wanted her ashes to be scattered in the Cauvery River."

Her daughter went quiet and fiddled through her messages. "Ma, you know Soumya, my friend. Last year, her grandfather passed away. And her family got some company in India to take care of the final rites.

Chandrika looked at her daughter and shook her head negatively.

Her daughter got up and left, leaving her mother with the thought. "I will go tell dad about it."

Chandrika sat there, smiling and nodding, as a few more of her colleagues stopped by. Life had come full circle for her. She excused herself and stepped out to make a few calls.

Fifteen minutes later, she called Joey. "Joey, I have made arrangements with a local start-up. They will perform the final rites and complete all the necessary formalities."

"But, Madam. Amma wanted to see you." Joey said, sadly. "Her soul will not rest in peace."

Joey's last words hit her like a hammer. "Do you think this is an easy decision for me? I can't explain it to you." Chandrika said in a hollow voice. She realised, she herself wasn't convinced.

"Okay. Madam, I've a request."

"What is it?" Chandrika was a bit irritated.

"Can I scatter her ashes in the Cauvery? In these last two years, I have become quite close to her." Joey asked expectantly.

"Fine." Chandrika said curtly and disconnected the call. A thought had been plaguing her on and off in the last few months. It had formed fully now, and she had the words for it. "Had she outsourced her mother to Joey?!"

 

******The End*******

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