Swaraj Kumari – Self-Reliant 81-year-old Mom

By ANITA SIKDAR

DEHRADUN, 13 May:

The Mother -- the greatest divinity on the earth, whom we look up to for all our needs as a child, also expects her children to look after her the same way when she grows old. But there are some unfortunate ones, who despite having blood relatives, are forced to live a life of relative neglect.

One such case is that of 81-year-old Swaraj Kumari, a former teacher of the National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH) (taught for 31 years), who now lives in an Old Age Home, Nehru Road.

Surprisingly, even at this ripe age, Swaraj, now a grand-parent, remembers all the memorable details about her own mother. “My mom taught me to be independent in my life. This is the reason that my mom gave me the name Swaraj (self-rule),” she said, disclosing that her parents educated her even after marriage.

“I was also a student of my mom in 5th/6th classes, when she taught me at Hansraj Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Lahore (she taught there for 17 years). After Partition, we shifted to Delhi, where she continued her profession by teaching in an Arya Samaj School,” she recalled.

Swaraj, who did her graduation and Montessori training, eventually became self-reliant and served as a teacher at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) for 31 years. “Here I used to teach Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Handicraft,” she added.

Swaraj, who after retirement from NIVH, chose to spend the rest of her life at Prem Dham, a home for the aged, instead of spending time with her children. “For the last 10 years, I am living independently here, living off my pension,” she said.However, even at this age, Swaraj still misses her mom, especially the delicacies made by her with Desi Ghee.

“Being a student of my mom I was not a mischievous girl and never gave her a chance to scold me,” she reminisced.

“My mom was my inspiration in fulfilling my duties as a mother. I have done everything, whatever I could do, for my children, whom, too, I taught what was taught to me by my mother.”

Recalling the incident that led her to decide to live independently, she said, “I left my family after I fractured my leg, and joined the Prem Dham (Home for the Aged), where I am leading an honorable and independent life with the pension money.”Continuing further, she said, “It was not at all because of my children or family that I left them. It was my wish to lead an independent life without becoming a burden on children, which is also good for me and them.”

She believes that ‘there is nothing to grieve about if one is educated and self-dependent’. “This makes me different from other neglected ones at Prem Dham,” she asserts.

Swaraj, who was not aware about Mother’s Day, wants to pay tribute to her mother by remembering her on the day, though it was painful for her and she was keen about the programme to be held at Prem Dham on Mother’s Day.

“A Mother is always a Mother, She is always special and nobody can replace her,” she felt.Certainly, nobody is like mom, though sometimes she becomes harsh and scolds us, she said. “But there was a lesson behind every scolding. Because, the significance of every word she used can be understood, only when we grow up….”

Garhwal Post salutes this mother.

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