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Episode II
Violets are Blue: Do you want to be a mother now?
Violets are Blue:
Do you want to be a mother now?
Bibliography
Public Domain Edition: The Story of Nalayani from "Mahabharata," Episodes 28
Author sources: V. Venkatachellam Iyer
First came love:
Brad and Angelina. They became young crushes of each other early in high school. Their love story was like one from a movie. It was love at first sight. Angelina would sneak out of her house at night, as Brad threw rocks at her window. Her mother would listen to her whimsically say during mother-daughter bonding pillow talks:
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"Mommy, I am going to Brad. And we are going to have children, grow old, and live happily ever after."
Angelina's mom would nod along. However, she knew that the odds for a young girl, only sixteen at the time, were out of her favor. Surely, their two lives would part in separate directions at some point.
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Then came marriage:
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They defied these odds. They grew together, and ten years later,they decided to get married. Although Angela was intelligent and could have pursued a business career longterm, her main dream was to dedicate time to start a family. Her life's mission was to take care of her baby full-time and nurture him or her into adulthood.
Brad insisted, "Angelina, unless you want to go back to your job, I will work. If you want, you can live your dream of being a full-time mother. Stay home. I can make ends meet and provide for us. After working, I will come home to see my beautiful wife and baby boy or girl."
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After two years of trying to conceive, Angelina could not get pregnant. It was a devastating cycle for her each month when realizing she would have to wait longer to see her future child. On a night full of extreme emotion and pain, she kneeled at her bed praying,
"God give me a child. Give me a child. Give me a child. Give me a child. Give me a child. Give me a child. Give me a child..."
She repeated this sentence twenty times.
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Then came babies in many baby carriages:
Well sure enough, God came to answer her prayers. And when I say he answered her prayers, I mean he answered all twenty of her prayers. Nine months later, Angelina had twins. This was followed by nineteen more children, ten sets of twins, all born one year apart.
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Brad and Angelina's life transformed into a tornado. To them, it felt like they could not even get a chance to breathe and enjoy the life they always longed for. Angelina didn't have enough time or energy to dedicate to each individual child. Her body and head space were in a state of constant exhaustion. Angelina wanted to be a mother, but this felt like something different.
She prayed again to God.
"Why would you do this to us? I wanted the love of a mother and a child. I wanted Brad to have the love of a father and child. But now, we do not have the capacity to love a sufficient amount on all of these children."
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He smirked to himself and replied, "Trust me. Be grateful. Some people are not able to have kids at all."
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"HAPPINESS IS NOT ABOUT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT. IT IS ABOUT LOVING WHO YOU HAVE"
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story is a retelling of Nalayani's story from Mahabharata. In the original story, we are given a background of Draupadi's previous life as Nalayani. This includes her previous life and how her character came to be. In the original story, Nalayani is married to a rishi. After he takes a vow of abstinence, she prays to God, asking him to give her the affection and care from which she used to receive from her husband. She declared, "Give me a husband, give me a husband..." and repeated this statement five times. In answering her prayers, God grants her a life where she is born again. In the new life, she would be showered with intimacy from five husbands, each husband a result of each declaration.
In this retelling, I want to highlight the desire a woman has to conceive a child. To me, the major moral takeaway is that one should be grateful for what they are given in this world. One should love what they have, and they should not demand more from the already gracious nature of your God. When a wife is desperate to conceive a child with her beloved husband, she prays and asks for a child. She repeats this statement twenty times. Similarly, God ironically gives her twenty children which causes her stress and lack of enthusiasm for motherhood she so desperately desired.