A Mother in India

A birthday

I haven’t posted here for a long time and I didn’t even realise it till two days ago – when it was my daughter’s birthday. She woke up earlier than usual and was so happy to be woken up by a telephone call from an old childhood friend who stayed in a distant town in the foothills of the Himalayas. The friend’s mother who was also my daughter’s teacher wished her too. The day began on a happy note for her and I was moved as birthday wishes came in. Most came from people she had met on the net in the past three years - people with courage, struggling with an illness that had changed their lives. And some wishes were from people she had met last year and shared with them that she had this illness. I am grateful to God when I see people who don’t shy away from mental illness. For there are so many in India, who just cannot understand that mental disorders are just a part of a person and there is more to an individual than the illness. This understanding, I feel is only possible if one has the ability to love without conditions, able to feel compassion and be tolerant. I feel so happy whenever I see these in people. People who respond to my daughter when they see what a kind, loving and generous person she is.