“A glorious century rests at the feet of God… “In Maa, I have always felt that trinity, which contains an ascetic’s journey, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi, and a life committed to values,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted this morning, informing of the death of his mother.
Heeraben Modi passed away at the age of 100 on Friday in a hospital in Ahmedabad. The loss that cannot be fulfilled by even the richest things in life is the love and presence of a mother. A mother’s sacrifice cannot be surpassed by any other power, miracle, or sacrifice when we shine a light on it. A person who stands still, does not let any power defeat him, proves to be the strongest of all, but becomes emotional when it comes to a mother. The same thing happened to PM Narendra Modi in an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley.
He sobbed uncontrollably and began recounting his mother’s sacrifices during their difficult times. He further said, “When we were young, what we did to get by was: we went to our neighbours’ houses nearby to clean dishes, fill water, and do hard chores. So you can imagine what a mother had to do to raise her children. “What she must have gone through,” Modi said, his voice breaking. He added, “That’s not just the case with Narendra Modi.” “In India, there are hundreds of thousands of women and mothers who have sacrificed their entire lives for their children.”
Therefore, nothing in the world can compare to a mother’s sacrifices; wonderful children only arise from great mothers. Heeraben Modi, PM Narendra Modi’s great mother, made a significant contribution to his life.
The Prime Minister spoke on the challenging life his mother had led but how she had persevered in an article published in India Today. “She was unable to enrol in school or even learn how to read and write. Her early years were marked by hardship and poverty. Mother’s childhood was really difficult compared to today,” Modi added.
He described how his mother, who was the eldest daughter in her family and later the eldest daughter-in-law after her marriage, had lost her mother when she was a young child. She continued to take care of her home after getting married because she had done so since she was a young child. Because of such hardships, “Mother did not have much of a childhood. She was pushed to develop past her age,” Modi remembered.
As per Narendra Modi, his mother kept the whole family together with serenity and fortitude despite the demanding obligations and daily hardships. His family used to reside in a little home in Vadnagar that lacked even a window, and much fewer amenities like a toilet or a bathtub. This one-room house with mud walls and a roof made of clay tiles used to be their home. His parents, siblings, and himself, all remained inside of it.
To make it simpler for his mother to cook, his father built a machaan of bamboo sticks and wooden planks. This building served as our kitchen. The entire family would gather on the machaan and dine together as his mother used to climb up there to cook. His parents, however, never allowed the stress brought on by the daily challenges to dominate the home environment.
She would get up with his dad and complete a lot of duties first thing in the morning. His mother was alone as she ground grains and sifted rice and daal. She would hum her favourite hymns and bhajans while she worked. She adored the popular bhajan “Jalkamal chhadi jane bala, swami amaro jagse” by Narsi Mehta Ji. She enjoyed the song “Shivaji nu halardu,” he added.
“Mother never asked us, children, to leave our studies and help her with the household tasks,” Modi added in the article, recalling the sacrifices she had made. She never asked for their aid. But seeing how hard she was working, Narendra and his siblings felt that aiding her was their top priority. They used to adore going for swims in the neighbourhood pond. There he washed all of his dirty clothing.
To help with household expenditures, his mother used to wash cutlery at a few homes. To help us boost the meagre income, she would also carve out time to spin the charkha. She would perform all tasks, including spinning yarn and peeling cotton. Her main worry, even during this physically taxing task, was making sure they wouldn’t get pricked by the cotton thorns.
In the Gujarati town of Vadnagar in the Mehsana district, Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on September 17, 1950, into a family of grocery store owners. His father, Damodardas Mulchand Modi, and mother, Heeraben Modi, gave birth to a courageous man who is now leading the country and serving as one of the most able leaders representing the Bharatiya Janata Party. Narendra Modi is the third oldest of six kids.
Narendra Modi is the first Indian prime minister to have been born in “Independent India,” i.e., after August 15, 1947. Additionally, he is the first Prime Minister of India whose mother was still alive when he got into power. He set the record for the largest margin of victory for a Lok Sabha constituency.
And for all the above-mentioned achievements, Modi gives credit to his mother, Heeraben Modi, who is no longer with us today.
“When I met her on her 100th birthday, she said one thing, which is always remembered: that is, work with intelligence and live life with purity,” said Narendra Modi, who attended his mother’s last rites in Gandhinagar today.
