Why all the Mothers are so Loving, Caring and Godly?

Three days have passed without any major hurdle and today being a Saturday, everything was closed at Shanghai city of China and I was all alone in my hotel room. The guests who had visited along with me had gone to see the Exhibition at another city and they were returning only on Monday morning.

I was totally a stranger to this city, no friends and no acquaintance with the place. I was not in a position to visit new sites in the city or make new friends due to the language problem. I even couldn’t take a long drive and go to a nearby village to meet with local people due the communication barrier.

The biggest problem which I could foresee was communication and that’s why I was not in a position to speak with the local people. They all spoke Chinese language only and English speaking people were very few except couple of hotel staffs at the hotel reception, who knew English, but for how long can someone talk to them.

The second more severe problem with me was my food habits. I being a pure vegetarian and teetotaler, alcoholic drinks were not in my menu; and in my prohibited food list, onion, garlic, chilies, eggs and beer were also not be included. Although this restriction was self-imposed and it was solely my own decision because I didn’t feel like having it and it was that simple. Although, I had never avoided the company of those people who were fond of non-vegetarian foods and alcoholic beverages, it’s purely their personal choices and I am nobody to raise an objection to it.

Therefore, I was left out with a very few food and drink options, which included soft drinks, fruit/fruit juice, bread, butter, green tea and tea/coffee. I couldn’t even eat pastries, cakes and biscuits because all of them were prepared with eggs. And whatever ration I had brought with me from India was exhausted last night.

In my hotel room, I was left with the choice to either read my favorite novel or watch TV, where again the choice was very limited to very few English news channel and suddenly I got a call from my wife and after listening to my pathetic story she suggested me to contact Mr. S. K Roy, (who were neighbour at our Kolkata flat), and was presently staying with his daughter and son-in-law, who were working in an Indian multinational company at Shanghai. I took my wife’s advice seriously and contacted Mr. Roy, which really proved a blessing in disguise.

I called Mr. Roy’s daughter’s local number from my hotel room, which was attended by Mr. Roy’s daughter Ms. Mona, and after listening to me for few seconds in Bengali, she shouted in her extreme voice and asked me in great excitement: “When did you come to Shanghai, Dada (brother), from where are you speaking now, wait I am giving the phone line to my father.”

She sounded very exited over the phone and asked so many questions in a row without waiting for my reply and simultaneously called her father in her loud voice: “Baba, come-fast, see who has called,” and I could clearly hear Mr. Roy's voice over the phone, who was asking: “Mona, who is calling” and after receiving the phone he uttered only one word: “Hellow” and I said “Namaskar, I am Gurcharan speaking” he again asked in a curious tone “From where are you calling” and I then told him in detail about the purpose of my visit to Shanghai city and my present location.

He immediately told me to pack-up my luggage, check out from my hotel room and proceed to his house without any further delay and stay with them till I am staying in Shanghai. I explained to him that I am on official tour and I can’t checkout from my hotel room. Moreover, my guests would be back on Monday and I had to receive them from the domestic airport and thereafter need to proceed to our local office. He then told me to come that evening and requested me to stay with them, atleast, till Sunday night. I again explained to him my difficulties in doing so but assured him that I will definitely visit them next morning and stay for the whole day and after lot of explanation, I could make him understand my position and convinced him about my Sunday visit.

I left my Hotel-room at eight o’clock the very next day morning and reached Mr. Roy’s house by 10 O’ clock sharp in the morning and after ringing the door-bell, Mr. Roy’s daughter, Monadi opened the door and after exchange of greetings asked me “Dada, where is my father?” I replied “I didn’t know? She then told me that her father was so excited about my coming that he had gone to the Metro station since the morning to receive me.

I was feeling uncomfortable to hear about it, at this old age Mr. Roy had gone all the way to the Metro station on foot just to receive me, so that I should not face any difficulty in finding his house, which was only 4 K.M. away from their flat. His daughter along with me rushed back to the station and to my utter surprise, we saw Mr. Roy still standing at platform number one, looking attentatively at all the passengers coming out of the in-coming train/s.

And at the station, when I called him from the back, he immediately made a u-turn and after looking at both of us said, “Mona, from where did you get him?” And she said to her father “You are standing here and Dada had reached home directly.” And when I bowed down to touch his feet, he stopped me in-between and held me in his hands and embraced me so tightly and I could see his eyes wet with tears.

Mr. Roy’s this act deeply touched my heart, although, I was not his son nor a relative or a friend, we were just neighbours but still, it was also true that we both were Indians, Bengali by heart and disciple of Goddess Kali, which was an emotional bond between both of us.

We reached back home and saw Maamuni (Mother: Mrs. Roy) standing at the balcony of their second floor flat and looking at the main entrance gate towards the building; she must be wondering, where had we all gone? When she saw us, she raised her hand, started smiling and rushed back to open the main door of her flat. As soon as I saw her, I first touched her feet in respect and she profoundly grabbed me by both hands and embraced me. She started touching my face by her both hands and repeated the same sentence again and again: “Charan, you have come, very good, very good.”

They first offered me breakfast, full meal at lunch and snacks etc. in the evening with tea. And to my utmost surprise everything was served exactly of my choice and I was wondering how they knew about my choice, liking and taste. And at late evening when I wanted to bid good-bye, Maamuni gave me one big bag and told me to open only after reaching my hotel. I did not argue with her and finally Mr. Roy came along with me till the Metro station and left only after my train’s departure.

After reaching my hotel room, I first opened the bag and got the surprise of my lifetime, there were five different air-tight plastic containers and on each container, there were instructions written in Bengali, which said what to eat, when to eat and where to keep rest of the food, in my hotel room so that it may not get spoiled.

After a week, when I reached home at Gurgaon, my wife told me that Maamuni (Mrs. Roy) had called my wife and enquired about my food habits, taste and likings in detail and that’s how she was able to cook all the food of my choice with right contents of spices and oil without adding onion, garlic and chilies, so that I had sufficient food of my choice while staying in Shanghai. I sometimes wonder, why all the Mothers are so loving, caring and Godly?

May lord almighty always keep the Roy family happy and healthy and may they always keep such good hearts to treat each and everyone as their own.

With Prayers

Gurcharan