Mother. A hero or an Instinct???

Last night I was watching Uncut and Untamed on Animal Planet. I like these out of line videos. In fact last week when I was watching the horrific episode on History channel which in detail described the history of Impaling, my mother almost disowned me. (By the way she is a doctor and no novice to blood and gore) But like I always say, before anything else she is an Iyer Brahman!

Anyhow, the episode last night featured a rather gruesome fight between two grizzly bears! Aesthetically speaking it looked beautiful. The aggression and the hell hounding sound made by both was chilling. But there was more than what met the eye! In reality it was a fight between a Momma bear and a grizzly male bear...

The male bear was bigger, hungrier, nastier and had nothing to loose. The Momma bear on the other hand was alone with her cubs. The video not only captured the violence but the desperation that the mother must have felt at that time. She came charging head on and suddenly her ferocity was far more intense than the this heavy male bear. She not only attacked him but forced him to back off! And the cubs watching their mother fight soon started imitating her moves. That's how nature teaches. And that's how these kids will one day learn to defend themselves...

But talking of this force called maternal instinct, it's funny how when a society is being divided it's always the Men in one group followed by women children and the old in the other. Surprisingly whether it's the animal kingdom or the human jungle, women always have shown more prowess and yet need to prove their metal over and over again.

Almost two years back when I was working for Mumbai Mirror, I happened to interview a woman labourer in a village next to Thane. Well, she worked in one of the farmhouses as a maid. An ordinary looking woman. Rather skinny and short!

But when I was told that this woman had taken a leopard head on to save her small daughter from being devoured by the beast, I could not hide my utter shock! Draupadi Mahadev Kalmadi that's her name. An underweight maid who took the leopard by surprise, held on to him till he released her daughter from its clutches!!!

While speaking to Draupadi I desperately searched for the superwoman figure in her. But her frail body and timid voice were stopping me to see what others had already seen. Luckily I did not have to wait for too long. The minute I saw Draupadi's daughter running towards her mother, I saw how this frail body suddenly changed it's language. Her shoulders tight and her arms stretched out. Here was her pride, her love, her child! And in that moment i realised how this woman transformed from a mere maidservant to a mother who was ready to die just in order to make sure that her child lives.!

I guess, I didn't need to look further. I saw it all. I saw the mother, a figure probably more powerful than a male grizzly bear or a superwoman. As the daughter came closer, Draupadi quickly took her in her arms. Yes! Now she is safe. Now the mother is happy. Now they are together...

But you know what's the most touching part of these episodes? If you ask these mothers how? and from where? Their only answer to it would be, "That's what mothers are supposed to do."

PS (For mothers there is nothing heroic about saving their own children.!)