THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE RULES THE WORLD 'The Hand that rocks the cradle

rules the world' - is a maxim wh ich describes the role of mother in every persons's life. Whether it was an Alexander who ruled the world or a Gandhi who rules in every one's hearts, or an Edison who made a 1003 inventions have all been instilled, the values that made them by their parents and prim arily their mothers. When the same baby that the mother gave birth to and slept in the cradle that the mother rocked goes on to achi ve something great in the world, a large chunk of the kudos should go to the mother for instilling values and ambitions and spurring th em up at every point and lending their hands at every fall. They say behind every man's success there is a woman and at m any a time it's the mother who is the woman. But many a time we fail to look at the contribution of the mother of child which achieves greatness just like we don't look at the person who planted the seedling but only look at the tree which has now grown tall. But we have gratitude for our mothers for making us into someone whom the world respect, but the mother needs none of those, she just wants us to lead a good life. Sometimes women would want to be independant and self-relied but most mothers don't want that because they are not independant once a child is born. Sophia Loren in her book 'Women and Beauty' perfectly put it thus, when you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice -once for herself and once for her child. They say, 'God could not be everywhere and so he made mother' . But those are insufficient words to express gratitude to the Love and Care of a mother towards her child. William Makepe ace Thackeray said, 'Mother is the name for God in the lips & Hearts of Little Children'. Once a child is born, a mother i s also born. She gets transformed into a new role, one that is of utmost importance. She nurtures her child with the greatest care of a child knows it. It can't be separated from her mother even for a second. The mother always has to be at an arm's length for the child. As we grow, the mother nurtures us with values like gratitude, fraternity, good manners, punctuality which has a great effort on our attitude. The bonding between the mother and her child is eternal as shown in Raphael 's M adonna and her child which has become the symbol of motherhood. This is expressed perfectly by Keith L. Brooks who said 'A l ittle gir, asked where her home was replied, 'where mother is'. Many a time, I wonder, how can a mother care more about her child. She is anxious for each and every issue regarding her child be it the child's exam, or the result or an interview. She is even anxious for trivial issues like when we go out to play during vacations, waiting with bated breath for our return. She d oesn't expect anything in return except our well-being. Washington Irving says 'A father may turn his back on his c hild, brothers & sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands, but a mother 's love endures through all'. This is not an exaggeration. A mother can do anything for a well-being of her child, even lay do

wn her life, and the only thing she expects is our well-being & prosperity. I thus end my essay, with the words of Sharon Doubiago, wh o said, "My Mother is a poem I'll never be able to write, though everything I write is a poem to my mother".