A page for readers to share their views, thoughts and stories.

Each week, we’d like you to share your thoughts, anecdotes, views or stories. We asked: What is that one quality of your mum’s you wish to emulate?

The quality that we would like to imbibe from our mother is her resilience. We grew up in very humble surroundings. Each day she would battle various issues on the home front but in front of us she put up a brave and calm front. Her ability to cope with all the challenges life put her through and still come out a winner is what keeps both me and my sister going. When faced with tough times we think ‘what would mum have done?’ and make the right decisions always. She is our superhero. Christina Fransz and Shirley Mirchandani One of the many qualities of my mother that I admire is her unparalleled strength. Now I don’t mean that she could do a hundred push-ups.

She loves her potato chips a bit too much. By strength I mean her strength of character. The kind of strength that helps those around her to thrive and not shrivel in fear.

Life has thrown some challenges her way. In all honesty, some really big ones.

Yet I have never seen her give up. As said by Robert H. Schuller,

‘Tough times never last, but tough people do.’ My mother surpasses every obstacle, keeping her optimism throughout.

She walked through all the hardships she has ever faced with her fancy heels, (which I always wanted to wear), like a powerful woman.

Her strength is therefore one of the many things that I would want to inculcate within myself.

I want to inspire those around me just like my mother does.

I want to stand out from those around me just like my mother does. Anushri Bhattacharya

I am a 39-year-old hyper mother of an eight-year-old girl and other than my helicopter parenting, everything else is in control. I am good to parents, to daughter, to dog, to husband

(no specific meaning in the order)... everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, house is beautiful etc. I know all issues, all solutions, so what can I need to learn from anyone?

The light was thrown on the blind spot during my mother’s visit to Dubai. It was the first time I realised that other than knowing all her health problems and everyday pains, there is still something I don’t know about my mother: What she wants. Is there anything that she has desired in life? All these years she has never had an aspiration for herself. The gifts for her on birthdays or anniversaries were our Growing up, I’ve seen my mother take our family through many a difficult situation positively. She is the epitome of perseverance, dedication and faith. I can mention many things I would like to carry on from her but to mention one would be: Worrying is not the answer to anything. Instead be calm, pray constantly, give thanks and ‘everything will be just fine’. Sylviette D’Souza Right from our childhood we love to emulate our school teachers and our mothers. Out of the many traits that I would still love to emulate of my mother is her reading habit and keenness to keep abreast of all that is happening all around. Even at the age of 78, she keeps up-to-date with all that is happening around the globe, be it the stock market and investments or politics, social causes and whatever else is happening in the world. She knows what the youngsters of today like in terms of fashion and food and is able to engage in lively conversations with her grandchildren and their friends as well. She is a keen and an avid reader of literature and I really respect and admire her for this. Tanuja Gupte

choices, always. All her dreams and prayers have been around the happiness and well-being of children, husband or some close relatives. Coming to Dubai, she shopped for a few gifts for friends and relatives. How can anyone be so selfless in a world driven by self-love? All that she desires is a Facetime call for a few minutes a day, to know we are fine and happy. The call in itself is adequate to make her happy and content. Finding one’s joy in the joy of others can be a value with great reward but, as always, it’s easier ‘typed’ than done!

So the question isn’t if I can emulate my mother’s quality. It’s whether I can ever be close to it. So in future, will my daughter not know about the solitaires that I want? Well, time will tell if I am a good copy of the original or not. Pragya Sonawane

While there are numerous qualities that I want and need to emulate for a better future, there is a certain trait that I admire the most – a positive attitude. No matter the situation, no matter how many ups and downs may come across her, no matter the toll that life may take on her well-being. She encourages us to move forward and succeed with nothing more than a bright, chirpy and warm smile. She never lets a bad day ruin our family bond or the atmosphere of the house. She always faces every task with a smile and an attitude that helps others to face their challenges with immense enthusiasm. I personally feel that this is a quality that is needed in today’s world where depression is a highly common phenomenon. All you need is a smile and a positive attitude to surf past harships and difficult times. Raunak Raghavan There are so many qualities of my mother that I would like emulate, but I would like to talk about one that was hidden under so many good qualities of hers, until recently.

In December 2016, my mother was bed-ridden by a rare disease called GuillainBarré syndrome (GBS), in which a patient’s peripheral nervous system is paralysed. She was not able to move her arms and legs, although she was able to eat, talk, see, feel and cry. Those were the most difficult days for all of us and especially her. This disease has no cure but the patient can recover through regular physiotherapy and very, very strong willpower, over a few months to a few years.

My mother never, ever gave up. She kept fighting, always putting on a smiling face for all of us. With a positive attitude, hard work and sheer willpower she recovered within five months. I appreciate how strong my mother was, I salute her determination, perseverance and strongest willpower. Divya Sharma

This woman entails the qualities of a superhero. Compassion is her weapon, tolerance is her charm and ignoring negativity is her bliss. Now, I know I have to choose one quality but it’s almost impossible – like telling my mum to choose her favourite child. These qualities make my mum the ultimate superwoman in my life. Supporting people that abandoned her, ignored her and hurt her, helping everyone with all her heart and raising me and my sisters to be fighters for ourselves – my mum is a Godsend. Ann Albin One quality of my mum’s that I really admire and wish to adopt (aside from her cooking skills), is her ability to see far into the future. Her decisions are probably the best one can make, and she has an uncanny ability to weigh the pros and cons of anything. She can recognise a bad decision in an instant, and can list all the ways it could affect our future. This is one reason why I never do anything without asking my mother about it. Karthika Vijay A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take. My mother is my role model. She is the one who I aspire to believe when I grow up. For me, my dear mother symbolises a goddess of love and care. She is my source of inspiration. I want to inherit many qualities of hers. Hard work, patience, kindness, simplicity, forgiveness, understanding etc cetera. These values are strong enough to fascinate me. Dear mum, to the world you are a mother, but to me, you are the world. I love you! Hanan Fathima My mother is a very simple woman with great qualities I wish to imitate or surpass. But if I have to choose only one, it is her perseverance.

She was born to a poor family, struggled to finish school and worked as a housemaid to be able to go through college until she became one of the top in her class for midwifery. She has served so many poor couples by giving her free service as midwife to help wives during their delivery of their babies to this wonderful world. She served as a mother for the three of us and a wife to our father who was working abroad. We have not heard her complaints but rather she will always advise us to work hard and always aim to reach for the best – in our daily lives and in our careers. This has been my guide – as I have worked harder and persevered, and still surpassing this quality of hers until now that I have my own family and I have already gracefully aged. I can say that I have lived a life to the fullest because of this quality with the prayer that I may continuously give my mother the best at her age, now, of 93. Ma Teresa Sanchez Edpan My mother was a medical practitioner and worked more for the poor and the not so fortunate. She hardly had time for us. We were three children but she took care of all our needs. We had plenty of domestic help and perhaps that shied her away from getting involved with domestic chores. When it came to the culinary arts, she was all at sea. While she was keen to know and read up on recipes, we never ever got to taste any of those exotic dishes she talked of, for it never came to fruition.

We lost our father when we were still in school and suddenly she had to There is never just one quality we would like to emulate from our mums! I am afraid pages would fall short for this question. But if you ask me to name one, I would have to say my mother’s strength. She has been through a lot in life but takes it with her chin up and shoulders squared. That is one of the things which will always make me love and respect her no matter what. I love you Mum, now and forever. Anisha Shetty Sumbre My mother is a true superwoman. She is doing a course and is still pursuing her studies but the way she juggles her studies and home without any outside help is truly inspiring. I am an aspiring chef because of my mum. She is an excellent cook. The perfection with which she cooks is incredible. I would love to emulate her perfection in all that she does and the way she strikes that right balance between fulfilling all her responsibilities and maintaining all her relationships. Zihna Aysha As rightly said by poet Beau Taplin, ‘home is not always a place for some; it can be a feeling and, for some, it can be people’. Mum is an inseparable part of one’s body. She witnesses your ups and downs, highs and lows, gives you values and helps you in developing them and therefore making the person you are today. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that mum was my home and the quality I would like to emulate is the way she made everyone feel at home even if it were in the saddest place. The value she had for relations, the loved she shared for family or even strangers is what I rarely see these days. She was the cocoon to us butterflies, a cosy escape from the world, a safe place. She was home.

It makes me sad she had to go so soon from the world, but in the numbered days we spent together she taught me things that are impossible to understand in a complete lifetime. Shimaila Moquddam take up the reins. I admired her grit and tenacity. She would venture where the brave dared not go. She was the sole breadwinner, a homemaker and an amazing mother relentlessly in pursuit of making her children academically oriented.

The three of us graduated and with flying colours though sadly none of us followed in her footsteps by pursuing a career in medicine. But we have inherited that grit, determination and perseverance from our mama. The ‘never-say-die’ attitude that she instilled even when the chips were down. Sheesha Kottary