India is a nation whose people value their mother with reverence, from the portrayal of deities in powerful and caregiving roles to men folding their hands in obeisance to ‘lakshmi’. A country which terms its nation as ‘Bharat Mata’ is a rare find in this technologically advancing world. The power of a mother is undeniable, her tears can bring her son back from the abyss and her values can make a woman globally acclaimed.The power of a mother is undeniable, her tears can bring her son back from the abyss and her values can make a woman globally acclaimed.

After a 17 year drought, India’s Manushi Chhillar won the coveted Miss World 2017 title in China. The previous winner was Priyanka Chopra, in her winning answer, Priyanka stated that her idol is Mother Theresa. Manushi, after 17 years, also gave a response based on the value of mother’s which received a huge applause from the audience. The question asked was, “Which profession deserves the highest salary and why?” The 20-year-old said, “A mother deserves the highest respect. It’s just not about cash but also the love and respect that you give to someone. My mother has been a huge inspiration. it is the mother’s job that deserves the biggest salary.”

This reply has awoken the people of India to embrace their cultural values and put their beloved mother’s on the pedestal they deserve yet are rarely acknowledged for.

It has been the argument of feminists that housewives are the largest unpaid workers globally, resulting in work done worth billions of dollars yet not recognised in our economy. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that an average woman in India spends five hours a day in unpaid work, Indian men spent under 51.8 minutes a day. If the same woman has children from the age range of 1 to 6 years of age, the workload hours increase. Yet the term ‘housewife’ is frowned upon, a mother’s work is thought to be trivial, and her life imagined to be a ‘waste’.

Even if the work of a mother is thought to be a backbreaking task the entire process is imagined to have no economic value whatsoever, even though motherhood helps prepare kids for the national and international labour market. Yet all the efforts that a mother puts into the household, giving her love to her child are not disregarded. On one hand, where a mother’s love brought the coveted Miss World title back to India, a mother’s love also brought back a son from the brink of self and national destruction.

The effect of the love of a mother on her child is profound. Footballer Majid Khan who joined Lashkar-e-Taiba returned home after seeing a video of his mother crying for his return. Majid was seen at the funeral of Muzamil Manzoor, a militant killed during a gunfight in Kund. A week after he announced on Facebook that he was joining the militant ranks he returned. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti welcomed Majid’s decision to return home.

‘’A mother’s love prevailed. Her impassioned appeal helped in getting Majid, an aspiring footballer, back home. Every time a youngster resorts to violence, it is his family which suffers the most,’’ she tweeted. Shortly after the return of Majid Khan, a 16-year-old boy heeded to his parents’ call and returned home in Chimmer village.
Seeing the positive effect that has been created by these videos of mothers telling their sons to come back home, many other mothers of terrorist sons have started doing the same.

In response, there are sons who are returning back home and aren’t being arrested. The government of J&K has declared that there will be no penalty for first-time offenders of any crime. In this manner, we can see that the role of a caregiver isn’t limited to our conventional belief of mother, but is also by the government. This different approach to rehabilitation of the youth, the belief that there is still hope, and the understanding that there is a gap in approach between the Indian government and Kashmiri youth has brought about a new approach.

The question still arises that with the hullabaloo surrounding Manushi Chillar’s response, to the return of children from terrorist groups, are we truly deserving to be called a nation who respects their mother in the 21st century? Compared to Western countries where children tend to live in nuclear families and leave their residence at the tender age of 18 years old, the attachment to parents isn’t as strong as in India.

Or yet that was the case until at least a decade ago, the new age trend is for Indian children to be educated outside of India and continue to live there, Indian children are leaving their parents alone. To achieve the dream of being successful in life, where success is measured in terms of international standards of income, the primary caregiver falls behind. Perhaps it is time to follow what we preach, not just say that we love our mothers but be there to care for our caregivers at a time that matters the most.