Dear readers,

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! 

As we celebrate this day remembering and thanking our mothers for their unconditional love and support, we, at Eyra, decided to release the April/May issue combined today to celebrate all the mothers and mother figures in our lives.

While we were at it, we also thought about the stereotypes that exist around and within us, which tend to often box people into the various roles and behaviors. It is our strong belief that above all the gender classifications and associated roles, is this human spirit which battles all odds and always emerges a winner – however dire the circumstances.

If a woman who was a housewife, due to some unforeseen circumstances, steps out to earn bread for the family, the same is true in reverse too. Many men step up and handle the mantle of motherhood and take charge of bringing up children when they are faced by some unprecedented situations in their life. 

Yes – men can mother too.

We dedicate this Mothers Day issue to all the men who are bringing up their children single handed. 

We do realise that there are more reel men (from books and movies) than real men who mother. But then, so what? 

Let us begin somewhere.

Mothers always bring up kids with a dream, a vision and pour in all their love into nurturing them. Being multitaskers and having a strong sixth sense and perceptivity, they cover all ground and ease into the role with grace.

Fathers, on the other hand, being single minded invariably define a singular or a few goals and ensure their child meets that. 

Like Frank in The Father Figure – Frank Adler (The Gifted). Driven by a clear goal that he wanted a normal, happy and carefree childhood for his genius niece, Frank goes all out to ensure he brings her up the right way.

Like Amudhavan in The Compassionate Father – Amudhavan (Peranbu), who transforms as a human and changes his entire view point of his special needs daughter when circumstances force him to mother her.

Or like Chris from Always Looking Up – Chris Gardner (The Pursuit of Happyness), who goes through the ultimate lowest point in life yet never ever gives up his spirit to be the right example for his five year old son.

Why do we tend to box people into categories and expect an associated behavior there? In Motherly Father & Fatherly Mother, the author questions these stereotypes and questions us on these boxes in our mind.

In Never Ending Wishes, we have a retired school teacher sharing her views on how we should look at our long list of never ending wishes. A food for thought, indeed.

As the scorching heat of the summer engulfs the country, stay hydrated and take care.

Cheers,

Swapna Narayanan

Chief Editor, Eyra

*All images used in this article are either Eyra’s own design or widely and freely available on the internet.*