"He Called me Mumma!"



"He's going to start talking at 40," that is what my Naana used to say about June. I had never met Naana, but Mummy has told me this story many times. 

Since last year Juney has been unwell. It’s been one illness after the other. Including an increase in tremors, which scared all of us and brought back memories we never wanted to visit again. He's better now, though his balance is seriously affected.

Post illness, June has emerged more intelligent and emotionally very sensitive. He tries to shape words in his mouth but his tongue fails him. Sometimes he tries really hard and some long sentences of jumbled words flow. It’s gibberish. But then we’ve never desired words with June. His eyes have always done the talking. 

Bhai is extremely dependent on Mummy now. She is the constant in his life. Recently, I was helping her re-arrange her cupboard, her saris were strewn all over the bed. I noticed that Juney was looking concerned; he would look at the saris and then look at me, questioningly, as if dreading that Mom was packing for a trip.

My pet name is Sona and for years June has called me "MamMam," more recently he started calling me "Ona" and my latest name from Bhai is "Amna." Mummy pointed out that "Amna was the name of the Prophet’s mother. "I love my new name, I love it's meaning. It means Peace.

June’s favorite spot in the house is the window ledge. He likes to perch himself there and look at kids playing and at cars passing by. Being busy for a few days I couldn’t visit Mummy, so Juney started throwing tantrums. And on one of those evenings, when Juney was in a bad temper, mummy observed that he was trying to get the attention of a few young girls standing downstairs. Seeing that Mummy had noticed, he smiled and looked her in the eye and said, "Amna."
He was contented the rest of the evening, because he was able to put words to an emotion. He was missing his Amna!

Yesterday, my phone rang late at night, "He called me Mumma," mummy exclaimed ecstatically! 

June has a few favorite words, one is "eeeeeeeeee" more recently "abbababababa" and for as long as I have known him, "mummmmmmmamamama." 

But a well-formulated “Mumma” spoken just for mummy, to mummy, with that look in his eyes as she hugged him, meant the world to her!

It was a conversation, between her and June. A one-word sentence, that outlined their relationship. Something that makes her want to live, to enjoy and absorb more from the gift that Juney is!



Enjoying the Sea on a bike!




Comments

Anirudh 'Lallan' Choudhry said…
:) smile on you crazy diamond :)

amna... wow :)
1:03 PM
Nusrat Fatima Jafri said…
Took ages to write the post!
10:51 PM
Natasha said…
The photos are lovely too, Nusrat. Beautiful post.
4:09 AM
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