ABSTRACT
https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203151631/f83e39f2-fb3e-4f6b-8067-30bae33d638e/content/icon_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>Like many young girls brought up on Tamil classical literature in the early 1960s, there was also no doubt in my mind that all women are essentially mothers. To be a mother was as natural and essential as the earth sprouting a tree or a tree bearing fruits. It was an effortless and natural act which came along with being a woman. A lullaby in a Tamil film set to a haunting melody was very popular in those days and in a way summed up our idea of a mother. We were quite convinced that what the mother in the song felt, all of us shared by virtue of being biologically women. The song went thus: Can a tree be a burden to the earth? Are the leaves a burden to the tree? A child she has given birth to — can it Be a burden to the mother? 1
