Story of a Mother’s Love 

Laxmi Saraswathi was born and raised in a remote village called Mangapuram in Hyderabad State, ruled by King Nizam. Her father was a village patwari, and her mother was a homemaker. She studied at home. She knew reading and writing in Telugu. She could read Telugu language books. She was an expert in explaining and singing Ramayanam and Mahabharatham folk songs. All the villagers loved her for her knowledge.

At the age of fifteen, her father settled her marriage with Narasimha Krishna from known relative circles. Narasimha Krishna passed his seventh class and worked as a primary school teacher in the Nizam government. They were teaching both Urdu and Telugu in schools. Narasimha Krishna was working in a village in another district, and Laxmi Saraswathi moved with him. Narasimha Krishna’s postings were too different places to start a new school, and one was to a village near Mangapuram.

After five years of marriage, they had a son. The cradle ceremony was celebrated with grand pomp and show at  Laxmi Saraswathi’s parents’ house in Mangapuram. Narasimha Krishna’s parents and all the Mangapuram villagers attended.

Narasimha Krishna’s parents were old and lived with their second son in the village. There was no direct transport from Narasimha Krishna’s village to Laxmi Saraswathi’s village. Narasimha Krishna’s parents travelled by bullock cart to the nearest Taluka bus stand to catch the bus and go to their district headquarters. They again changed to another bus to the nearest town to Mangapuram and from there again by bullock cart to Mangapuram. This journey was tedious for them in old age with knee joint pains. They came for the cradle ceremony of their grandson and named the newborn Shiva Krishna.

They stayed for a week, enjoying fresh toddy, homebred chicken curries, and fried rice. On the day of leaving, Laxmi Saraswathi’s parents presented them with a saree and blouse piece for Narasimha Krishna’s mother and a dhoti, a full-hands shirt, and a towel for Narasimha Krishna’s father. They again had the same travail of transport to travel back home.

Shiva Krishna changed schools along with his father’s postings. While working, Narasimha Krishna completed his Higher Secondary Certificate examination(tenth class) by appearing privately. After completing his tenth class,  the government posted Narasimha Krishna to a high school at Taluq headquarters. Shiva Krishna stayed with his parents during his high school studies.

Subsequently, three more sons were born to Narasimha Krishna and Laxmi Saraswathi, with a six-year gap between them. For the second son’s delivery, Laxmi Saraswathi went to her parents in Mangapuram, and the third and fourth children were born in the government maternity hospitals in towns set up by Independent India. The children were Hari Krishna, Rama Krishna, and Govinda Krishna.

Laxmi Saraswathi’s father wanted his daughter to stay with them in Mangapuram and gave ten guns (1200 square yards) of land in the village to construct a house. Laxmi Saraswathi and Narasimha Krishna built a home there.

Among all her brothers, Laxmi Saraswathi was close to Ranga Rao, who was next to her. Ranga Rao and Narasimha Krishna became friends and helped each other. They purchased a ten-acre mango grove in the village on the stream’s banks adjoining the village. Ranga Rao was looking after the mango grove and the house.

Shiva Krishna completed his HSC and joined a one-year Pre-university course(PUC)(during the 1950s, it was a one-year PUC for admission to degree courses, unlike the present two-year intermediate course) at the district college. After completing PUC, he joined an engineering degree course at the only university in the State Capital.

Laxmi Saraswathi and Narasimha Krishna lived happily with their three children in Taluq headquarters. Laxmi Saraswathi was a homemaker. She looked after the home and the children. The second, Hari Krishna, was in high school, and she was coaching the third, Rama Krishna, at home in Telugu. She taught stories from Ramayana and Mahabharatha to children. Narasimha Krishna taught mathematics in the evening. The youngest, Govind Krishna, was two years old.

 In the early years of Independence, a child could get admitted to school in sixth class directly. Most children studied at home or in private, self-run single-teacher schools near their houses. Then, they got accepted to a middle or high school in sixth class. The school headmaster conducted a simple Telugu language and mathematics test before admission. There were no primary or preprimary schools during that period. Later, the government started many primary, middle, and high schools to encourage education. 

Their first son, Shiva Krishna, who was studying at the university in the State Capital, visited them during the winter holidays for the Dassera and Diwali festivals. He had twenty days of holidays, combining Dassera and Diwali. He enjoyed the festivals with his parents and brothers. His parents were proud of him for his engineering degree course study at the State Capital.

 During summer, Laxmi Saraswathi fell sick and had uncontrolled hiccups. The local doctor’s treatment could not help reduce the hiccups. The hiccups were uncontrollable. Narasimha Krishna and Ranga Rao shifted her to the government hospital at the district headquarters. There, she underwent treatment for a month. She breathed her last in the hospital. Narasimha Krishna was shocked.    Narasimha Krishna and Ranga Rao were by her side when she breathed her last. She was forty years old at the time of her death.

Ranga Rao arranged for a vehicle to take the body to Mangapuram and sent a person to pick up three children from the town.

Another informer went to Shiva Krishna in the State Capital. Siva Krishna came the following evening. In those years, landline telephones were a luxury for businesses and elite persons and available only in the cities. Telephones were under the control of posts and telephones department. The waiting period was two to three years. Hence, an informer went to contact Shiva Krishna. The transport facilities were scanty. Shiva Krishna and the informer took the next available bus to the nearest town and walked to Mangapuram.

 As there were no facilities to keep the dead body for a day or two as of today, the elders and Pundits decided that the cremation would take place on the same day. Shiva Krishna could not attend the funeral. The elders and Pundits agreed that the second son, Hari Krishna, would light the funeral pyre, as the other two were too young to perform the rituals. The funeral pyre was in their mango grove on the stream’s bank. Before the cremation,  the elders removed all the garlands and flowers on the body and placed them in the stream flow. All the men took baths in the stream waters.  

 Everyone felt the absence of the first son, Shiva Krishna, for he could not see his mother for the last time. Everyone present sympathised with  Shiva Krishna.

Immediately upon arriving in Mangapuram,  Shiva Krishna went to the funeral site. He paid his last tributes to his mother by bowing down at the site. After some time, he went for a bath in the stream. Shiva Krishna dipped and took water into his two adjoined cup-shaped palms to pray for his mother. When he got up,  he found his mother blessing him from the water in his adjoined cup-shaped palms, and   Shiva Krishna found two rose flowers of yesterday from his mother’s body in his palms. Everyone was surprised and said it was a blessing from his mother, though he could not attend the funeral. She had shown her love for him from heaven.

People assembled there said, “Mothers, wherever they may be on Earth or Heaven, shower blessings on their children for their betterment. They always wish them a good life. No one can match a mother’s love.” 

Everyone there, including Narasimha Krishna, Shiva Krishna’s brothers, and Shiva Krishna, offered prayers to the Almighty for the peacefulness of  Laxmi Saraswath’s soul.

PRABHAKAR MUSIPATLA