My Mother's Generous Heart

As far back as I can remember my mother's handbag was always loaded with bundles of crisp new notes from Reserve Bank of India where she worked as a manager. 

To this day, I have never seen anyone as selflessly generous as my mother. To put things in context, we were an ordinary middle class family of 3 girls. Most people pinched pennies to save up to marry off a single girl let alone three, but my mother never ever showed us a single sign of this burden. 

Mom and me

She was financially independent and controlled her bank account and spending herself unlike my 3 aunts who were also employed but handed over all their earnings to their spouses. Her income was the primary provider for our family as my father was burdened by financial support from his extended family. 

She lived fearlessly and money freely flowed out from her purse. Her acts of generosity to extended family members, known and unknown people are countless. So many people have been touched by my mother's generosity and kindness, all done in anonymity.

• She used to give 5 rupees to beggars back in the days when people hesitated to spare 10paisa
• In the early 1990's she took a huge bank loan for close to Rs 50,000 because her niece asked for a computer. She was paying off this loan in small amounts long after the life of the computer. 
• In 2010, she payed off a Rs 40,000 loan that her house maid, a single mother of 2 small children owed for her tiny house in Trivandrum.
• Around the same time, she again gave Rs 5,000 for this maid's son's education
• She worked in the Ombudsman's office and came across a desperate letter from a poor handicapped man who was being harassed by the bank and police to pay off his loan. Without even seeing this man, my mother wrote out a cheque of Rs 30,000 to clear his loan, simply because she was touched by the man's desperation. 
• She payed 1 lakh rupees for her brother's son's divorce settlement which was later repayed.
• She gave her niece Rs 80,000 when she needed money to build her house.
• She bought the same nieces son a laptop for Rs 30,000 and another Rs 30000 for his education. 
• For years, even to this day she shares the expenses to keep a home nurse to care for my father's ailing older sister.
• My mother wholeheartedly took complete financial responsibility for the care of my grandmother right up to her death. 

The most truly generous persons are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward  - Carol Ryrie Brink