Journey Of A Mother

Pained by her daughter’s decision to quit learning violin, Vidya Murlidhar realises that as a parent her job was to help her children navigate their life path, and not decide the destination they should aim for.

- Vidya Murlidhar

I sat on the wooden bench outside the tiny classroom in the music school, my solemness amplified by the sad tune my daughter and her teacher played on their violins. Ah! such was the beauty of violin. The sounds that arose from the confluence of its strings, the bow, and a musician’s touch, had a way of tugging at my heartstrings. Tears filled my eyes as it dawned on me that this was going to be her last class. A couple of weeks ago my child had decided to stop taking the lessons. She just did not enjoy it anymore, she said.

For years, we had been regulars to this school. Every week, come rain or shine we would be there for her class _ an eager child learning to navigate the world of music and an even more eager mom proudly watching her progress. How gratifying it had been to see the transformation; from shrill notes to pure melody in the same time that she had blossomed from a little girl into a teen

I was sad. Why did she have to quit? That too when she had come this far and was in her junior year. How would the fact that she had stopped playing violin reflect on her college applications? There were a few colleges in the US that offered great education in her dream career but most of them were quite selective in their admission procedure. The only thing they unanimously emphasised was that they admitted only those students who they thought stood out in the crowd. Didn’t that mean that their resumes had to be crowded with not just Pained by her daughter’s decision to quit learning violin, Vidya Murlidhar realises that as a parent her job was to help her children navigate their life path, and not decide the destination they should aim for Journey of a mother academic achievements but other activities as well? Wouldn’t her resume look a little less embellished if she gave up violin?