CHENNAI: Chennai saw quite a few different events for Mother’s Day this year. And somehow most of them, without any coordination, arrived at the same theme — celebrating the women and not just the mothers. In the last few years cookery competitions, art and quiz shows and the related jamboree focused on furthering the bond between mothers and their children, usually not holding any brief for the women alone. “Till this year, most organisers have only asked us to design events and games that the whole family can take part in. Having only women participating wasn’t profitable, they felt,” said Babu D*, a reputed event manager. Interestingly, that notion was put to the test this year and, like with most things, the moms came up trumps.Take for instance Momathon 2012, a day-long series of competitions held on Saturday. The whole series of ‘regular’ contests were aimed at letting mothers battle it out with their domestic and occupational skills, “Though most people opted for the cookery and artistic competitons, we were happy with the excellent response for our mom-fashion segments,” said Poornima, one of the organisers behind Momathon. Imagine the delight as women of all ages (mostly middle-aged) walked the ramp gracefully for the XXL Mom crown, “You can’t expect moms to be like models, but that doesn’t mean they can’t celebrate the way they look. Each of them is beautiful,” she said. The ‘dress up like a 60’s actress’ was another excuse for city mothers to try their hand at ‘fancy dress’ routines, all over again. Vandhana and Saraswathi walked away with the crowns.The other unusual Mother’s Day event that we came across this year was the Mother’s Day Trek organised by the Chennai Trekking Club’s Women’s Forum. Though most moms would have liked to sleep in late, especially on a Sunday morning, the trek at the Nagala Hills Western Entry for mothers, and their daughters/sons if they wished, would have made for a different experience, “It’s an opportunity for every mother to experience the joys of nature and celebrate being like a child again,” said a member of the CTC. “Though it was a 4.30 am set-off for the day-long trek, quite a good number of mothers joined in for the fun.”Finally, while the spirit of service and charity is one that is seen in people all year around, a group of college students who paid a visit to an old age home for destitute women had the perfect timing. In an age when most people hardly find time to see their mothers despite living in the same house, 70 students from Sri Ramanujar College of Engineering spent an entire day with old, lonely mothers in the Vishranthi Home in Palavakkam. “It was touching to see how happy 95-year-old Lakshmi was when the children sat with her. She said she had just gained four more sons,” said Rajan, one of the representatives of the college’s social welfare student group Aravanaippu. The students took an oath never to leave their parents in a home like this. Interestingly, the college helped by handing over the entire fine amount collected from students over the year, for mobile use and so on, to the home.Roses and small gifts were handed over to mothers in most churches while special pujas were done at large temples in the city for mothers.
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