Consolation prizes - The Goddess of Education; Sarasvathi

Name :Pakyasri a/p Visvanathan

No Matric : 211682

Title of Essay : The Goddess of Education; Sarasvathi

Sarasvathi is the person who brought me to this wonderful earth from her womb. She is my mother who had carried me along for almost nine months in her belly regardless where she goes or what she does. Her name itself carries a great meaning within it, which is “The Goddess of Education” in the Hinduism. For a woman who is 55 year old now, she has all the experiences needed by a normal human as she had gone through many stages in life which are commonly considered as hardship and difficulties by others.

It all started when she was a kid. At the age of five, her father passed away. Being the fifth child out of six children in her family, she did not realise the loss as she was only a small kid by then. Since then, her eldest brother was the source of income for the whole family while my grandmother spent her time working as ‘ayyahma’ preferablely known as maid in a military officer’s house. Her early education took place in the Residensi School which is now known as S.K. Jalan Residensi. She continued her secondary education in St. George’s Girls School. Unfortunately, she did not manage to finish her schooling. Instead, she started working at the age of 15. She entered the working world by starting off her work at the ‘Hewlett Packard’ Company.

As a young working lady, she began to realise the new side of the world and it was a real turnover in her life when she met her first love. In those days, love was forbidden especially in the Indian’s way of living which includes the beliefs and customs. So, my mother had to do it secretively. There is a little gap after her love life and till she got married to my father as I gained no information about it. Her marriage life started when she got married to my father at the age of thirty two. So, I was brought into this world after her three years of marriage with my father.

I can presume that she had been enjoying her life before and till the very second she got married. I am telling this because my mother, the woman whom I admire the most got married to a drunkard and not to her first love. The beginning of her marriage life was a tragedy. I got to know from my grandmother that mother insisted on marrying my father even when he had another wife with four daughters.

Sometimes, life can be really complicated and confusing. For me, this is a difficult situation one can face in life. The situation of her getting married to my father had always been a big question mark in my mind.

Since the day of the so called auspicious marriage, mother lost and gave up her happiness and peace. But, my presence has always made her the happiest woman on earth. As for her life with my father, what can I say ? It was horrible. Father consistently returned at late night after consuming alcohol and he always picks up a fight with mother each time he is drunken. It was something common for her as she got used to it. Tears and fear was no strange for her. She spent her nights crying and thinking about her little girl’s future which now lies in the hands of a pitiful and sorrowful woman. The pain she went through for marrying my father was beyond any pain caused by any severe injury in the world. Yet, she kept holding on to me and decided to send me to my aunt’s house in order to avoid me getting involved in the arguments which happened every single day. She was brutally beaten up by my father and often being scolded in foul languages which no man or woman can withstand it. I did not realise the pain and sufferings that she went through for me as I was just a young girl when all this happened. There were even certain times where she took me away from home and stayed at her sister’s house. Those were the happiest moments in my life because I would be able to see her free from worries. Unfortunately, we will return home when father comes pleading her and asking her forgiveness for what he had done to us. So, mother would again and again return home with me carrying a hope that father will really repent and things would be back to normal. But, this went on for a long time and finally mother decided to leave my father. I was eleven year old by then. Together with grandmother, mother and I went away from father. I still remember the statement which she told father, “It’s either you change or I change. I had given you all the time you needed, but I can see that you won’t change even when you are going to die. So, let me change”. Those were the words which came out from mother’s mouth before stepping out of the house. She knew that her decision will be looked down by others especially by her relatives. For others, her decision may seem to be a self-conscious act. But, the decision was just a mere way of hers to provide a conducive environment for me to study besides gaining freedom from father. She held onto the concept of one man army and went forward in life.

Since then, she started working extra hours to obtain more income to cover my eduation expenses in future. Thus, I made up my mind to study smartly instead of studying hardly. That is the only way for me to repay all her sacrifices and the pain she went through. My mother’s greatest joy was the day I obtained the offer to study at University Utara Malaysia (UUM). She now carries the pride wherever she goes telling that her daughter is studying in a university. When I entered the university, mother asked me to further my studies and obtain a Doctorate Certificate. I guess that would be my next aim and task to complete in order to gain more pride and joy for mother. Even though we are apart from each other, she had always made me happy through her phone calls every single day. I can never find a great mother like her and she is my “ Goddess of Education ” whom will be with me forever in my thoughts and mind. Thus it can be concluded that my mother is the true role model in my life. SARASVATHI is my GOD. My living Goddess of Education !!!