Varadé, varadé, varadé

Amma, can I have an orange-flavoured Lindt chocolate?
Amma, can you bring about world peace today?
Amma, that job is so nice, and I would be so good at it..?
Amma, today when I get there, let them have made panneer?
Amma, when I leave, please can I have a taxi waiting?
And a good cabbie? And no rain, Amma, my shoes are new!
Amma, how can you be so cruel? Won’t you give us some rain soon?
And don’t forget my visa! And let that courier man come before lunch!
Amma, amma, did you see how she looked at me?
So mean, Amma, teach her a lesson!
All I want is to take a long holiday somewhere.
Amma, I can handle anything, let my child not be sick.
Don’t you want me also to be a mother, Amma?
Our family needs a grandson, Amma. And a new gas cylinder.
Amma, am I a plaything for you? Listen to me, I want that doll!
Amma, let me come first in class. Amma, let my teacher be absent.
Amma, Amma, Amma, that one, not that one, now, not later.
Amma, Amma, Amma, can I have an orange-flavoured chocolate now?

Our wish-list is infinite;
so is the bounty of your grace.
We grasp at your gifting hands
and tug at your elbow with endless demands.
Each demand is urgent and each object precious.

Amma, sit with me, I am sick.
Amma, hold me. Amma, make him notice me.
Amma, finish my English homework for me.

We are ever-needy, ever-grasping.
You are ever-giving, ever-gracious.

It seems to me we complete each other.
Without you, we are nothing.
With you, we are everything.
So the reverse must have some truth.
You must need to give to us as well,
and you must want something from us, too.

Amma, in that spirit, let me ask—
What can I do for you today and everyday?
Varalakshmi, what wish can I grant you?

Shashti 2004