We asked you to pen a few words on your mom on the occasion of Mother's Day, and here are some interesting responses we received.
Dr Lalitha Ramakrishnan from Thiruvananthapuram spent her fourth Mother's Day without her late amma Kamala Mahadevan, above.
"To me as a mother, naturally thoughts of my mother come crowding in (on Mother's Day).
"She was beautiful. Strong. Powerful. A disciplinarian. More a Victorian mamma. We realised long back that our mother was a typical product of her times, born into a very renowned family where boys were treated like Gods.
"After marriage, my father's family changed her name to a somewhat fashionable Kamala and almost everyone knew her by that name only. But I should admit -- my mother's strict ways had a positive side.
"I was married when I was 20. But I could pass with distinction in my in-laws' exam of cooking and housekeeping, because of my relentless domestic training. When I became a mother, she made sure that I became self-sufficient.
"By the time my daughter was just two weeks old, I had become a master in handling tiny babies, bathing them, feeding them and what not.
"When I started working also, I had to take care of my house and kids. She was there to support me, but I couldn't expect her to take up the total responsibility. I ended up becoming a strong, self-reliant person.
"Looking back, I cannot but admit certain things: if it was not for her, I wouldn't have had a house at the age of 24, I'd never have got introduced to a spiritual side of life nor would I have learned the joy of giving.
"Her sense of dress and style was something worth emulating. We could only stand in awe of her, wondering how people like us could be her daughters?
"It took me years to come to terms with the fact that she loves us, but in a different way.
"Every Mother's Day, when I wished her first thing in the morning, there would be a pause on the other end and then she would say: "Mother's Day, allava (isn't it)?" And then she would shyly add, "Unakkum thaan (to you too).
"Every year, on this day, I have calls from my children to wish me. But now I don't have anyone to make that call to. Even if I did, only silence would have greeted me."
