MY MOTHER'S TEACHINGS

Passing on Values and Wisdom from the Heartland.

- Colonel R D Singh

My mother was a rustic and uneducated lady, born in a small village, Chuli (Hissar) in Haryana, in 1910. But she taught us about life as well as, if not better than, any of today's modern mothers. Let me recount this as I travel through my childhood, way back in the 60s and 70s, in our village, Pili Mandori (Haryana).

The first thing she taught us was to focus on our studies with an aim to become "The President of India." Now, please do not laugh. That was the dream which our mother gave us in a remote village over 60 years ago. Towards that end, she made sure that we brothers had nothing in terms of time or money for studies.

Normally, villagers would send their children to work on fields or to graze the cattle. Not us. She would get up, without an alarm clock, at 4 am in the morning and give us tea so that we could start our studies, as well as be on time for school. Going to school meant cycling for 10 kms, as the nearest high school at Bhattu Kalan was that far.