Dec. 26, 2006, 11:00AM
Nisha Chagani
Dear Houston Chronicle,
“To one who bears the sweetest name and adds a luster to the same, to one who shares my joys when I am glad, to one who cheers when I am sad, and the greatest friend I ever had. Long life to her for there’s no other, can take the place of my dear Mother.” This was a poem that I gave to my mom, Nisha Chagani, when I was in elementary school. Its meaning didn’t dawn on me until I got married and had my own child.
This is no ordinary story. This story is about a warrior princess. To give justice to my mother, whom I would like to enter into the contest, I will begin the story from when I was a baby. Growing up, I was a mischief and a menace but my mom always had faith in me and instilled in me morals and values that I live by today. My mother has dedicated her life to the love and care of our family.
We are originally from India and we moved to the United States in the fall of 1986. Even before we moved, my mom always supported my dad and worked odd jobs, and this continued even when we moved to the United States. We were in New York for five years, during which time my mom worked random jobs to bring in supplementary income for my sister and me so we would never experience poverty. In reality, we were poor in India and for quality education for my sister and me as well as for a better life, we moved to the United States.
We were also poor in New York but my parents worked hard. My mom did not know English very well but she managed to enroll us in school and help us with our homework. Along with taking care of my sister and me, she did many other things including babysitting neighborhood kids, making buckles for a local belt shop, cooking and cleaning our house for our family and paying guests that lived with us, supporting my dad, and all the other things. Even though life was hard, she never complained about it, but worked harder to be able to help us by taking classes at a local community college to learn English. All these moments in her life have made her a warrior.
Then a turning point came in our lives, when we moved to Houston in 1990 and my dad invested in a partnership of a 99 Cents Store. My mom spent countless hours working at the store, helping my dad in the purchasing, while she still continued to take care of our family. While she worked at the store she did it without asking for any money, even though the partners picked up extra money for their families who helped. However, she did it so that my family would prosper. She has always sacrificed her mind, body and soul for the love of her family.
Her support and my dad’s hard work and dedication helped us prosper and today we are quite well off. Though she was involved in helping my dad with the business, she continued to take care of the home, be a mom to me and my sister, and continue to guide us in our lives. My parents always emphasized education so no matter what work my mom did she always told us to not worry about working and concentrate on our studies. This sacrifice by our mom has paid off. Today I am a professional educator working on my masters degree, and my sister is currently working on a masters as well.
Finally, when things seemed to be going well, last year an event changed all of our lives and has really brought our family much closer than ever before. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. We never realized all the work that my mom did for the family until she was bed-rested and went through chemotherapy. Watching her go through the treatments was devastating because we love our mom so much.
The doctor said that the cancer had reached stage three, so we were all worried and afraid to lose our mom. She has done so much for us that we prayed to God for her well being and strength. Through prayers of family and friends, my mom’s treatment and surgery was successful. After a full year of struggle, today she is a breast cancer survivor. We are praying that she stays with us as long as God will allow us this privilege. Even during her treatments she continued to work as much as she could, and as soon as her treatments were over she got back to providing her complete self for the family.
My mom has never paid attention to herself, how she looked, or what she wore. She has always been too busy looking after the family. She never spent a dollar on herself, but instead spent it on her kids and husband. Due to her chemotherapy, she lost all of her hair, which has started to grow back slowly.
My sister, my wife, my baby girl and I would love to see my mom get a makeover. We want to surprise her with this, because sometimes we forget to recognize just how beautiful she is both inside and out. She has never gotten a makeover, never really spent time dressing up, barely wears any makeup, so it would be a huge surprise for her. It would really bring happiness to my mom and with your help we can show the people of Houston that my mom really is not just a great mom but a great human being. My mom is a warrior princess regardless, but she deserves the Queens for a Day makeover.
Sincerely,
Ahmed Chagani
Ismailimail 