My mum has always been strict with her children. Even after my father’s passing and she had to take charge of the family, that didn’t change. She is the kind of mother who doesn’t want any of her children out of her sight, no matter how grown they are. To her, my siblings and I are still her babies.
When my elder sister decided to settle in the state where she served as a corps member, it became a challenge because my mum refused to accept her decision. At some point, she even threatened to wash her hands off my sister.
Despite this, however, I carved my own path. I chose an uncommon career in photography, which my mum disapproved completely. I had attended the best schools, so my family expected me to choose a conventional career, but I fell in love with photography and decided to pursue it. My mum was disappointed. She didn’t understand why I would choose to work in an industry like photography. To her, I was unserious.
Several times she would call me “stupid” and a “disappointment”. She’d say she had always known I would bring bad luck to the family and that I could never amount to anything good. Those words hurt me deeply but have also made me resilient. I refuse to settle for a career I am not passionate about. Although I still nurse some uncertainties in my career, my efforts are beginning to pay off. I am constantly learning and serving professional photographers whose work I admire. Often, I send money to my mum, no matter how small. She is impressed by how much I earn from this “unserious work”