To mother, with love!

A recent tweet by Anand Mahindra who offered to gift a token of appreciation, brought to light the life of a young man who’s only purpose in life is to serve his mother. “I am humbled by his kind words, I’d first like to meet him and later consider the gift.” Says Krishna Kumar!

They say a mother’s love knows no boundaries! But, this 40-year-old son took a life changing decision to appreciate his mother for all her triumph over the years. Dakshinamurthy Krishna Kumar and his septuagenarian mother Chudarathna hail from the heritage city Mysuru. We had a chat with this duo! Here’s what they had to say.

Krishna Kumar worked as a corporate team leader in a firm in Bengaluru for over 13 years. Speaking to us about the paradigm shift he chose to make he says, “The unfortunate event of my father’s demise four years ago struck the family. This affected my mother and hence I decided to drive her to Kashmir in 2017. However, through the journey my mother carried a picture of my father and confided in me that she missed him a lot.”

Moved by how his mother provided for his joint family of 10 members by spending most of her life in the kitchen, Krishna wanted to give back something to his mother. He says, “In a casual conversation I asked my mother if she has seen a few temples like Thiruvannamalai, Tiruvanantapuram and others. She told me that she hasn’t even seen the nearest Belur and Halebeedu temples and this shattered me. I decided to put everything in my life aside and dedicate my time to her.”

He quit his job on January 14, 2018 and with his life savings he begun the journey with his mother on January 16 the same year. Calling his venture the Mathru Seva Sankalp Yatra Krishna Kumar took off with his 70-year-old mother on a pilgrimage tour around the country on a scooter. Speaking about the scooter he says, “This was my father’s vehicle and by travelling on it, it feels like  my father is joining us on the journey as well!” He adds, “With an aim of giving my mother a certain dignity before death, this is not with reference to monetary dignity but the one that comes from the satisfaction of visiting several holy abodes in her lifetime, I decided to take this journey.”  

Expressing her joy about her son and the journey Chudaratha says, “It’s difficult to find a son like Krishna in an era like this. His love and care for me is abundant and I am blessed to have a son like him. This journey has been very exciting and I am surprised of my ability to sit on a scooter at the age of 70 and travel for such long distances. This was possible only because of the courage my son fills in me.”

Upon embarking this wonderful journey of a lifetime the duo has visited various parts of the country covering the southern and the eastern states and a few neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. They are currently at Arunachal Pradesh and have travelled over 48,892 kms on their scooter. Speaking about their stay and the money for this travel he says, “The media has made us relatively popular and several people offer to fund our travel, however we do not accept any monetary initiatives we rather thank them for their goodwill. While on our travels residents have opened their homes to us and have given us the basic food and shelter which is heart-warming. A big thanks to the media for their support.” He adds, “I urge every kid to respect their parents and dedicate some time for them. This will help them age happily and will give them a feeling of content.”