My Mother — Page 35
chapter five Devoted Mother T he mysterious bond that subsists between every mother and child is a divine bounty. Despite their physical separation on the birth of the child, the bond continues to gain strength with the passage of time. For the mother the child remains a child, no matter what his age, position, or rank may be. The bond tugs at the heartstrings of the child even from beyond the grave. When the mother departs this life, the very foundations of the child’s life are shaken, and life seems to lose its zest. The bond between and me was particularly strong. She possessed a very sensitive, soft, and tender heart; and I became the special object of her tenderness and love. This was due partly to the loss of her earlier-born children and my survival into boy- hood, and partly to the fact that I developed severe granulation of the upper eyelids, from which I suffered continuously from the age of ten to sixteen, and became my partner in my suffering. I was compelled to pass the greater part of the summer