લોહીની સગાઈ The Tie of Blood (Lohini Sagai)

અમરતની દીકરી મંગુ માનસિક રીતે અસ્વસ્થ - ગાંડી - છે.

Amrat's daughter Mangu is mentally ill - 'mad'. She cannot do her own tasks, at times she is stubborn, at times restless. The whole house and the mother's entire day revolve around this daughter.

મા થાક્યા વિના દીકરીને જમાડે, સંભાળે અને સેવા કરે છે.

Amrat feeds, bathes, puts to sleep and tends her daughter - without tiring. Even though the daughter may not recognise her mother or thank her, the mother's love does not lessen at all. The instinctive tenderness of motherhood shines in this service.

સગાં કહે છે - ગાંડી દીકરીને હૉસ્પિટલમાં મૂકી દો; પણ મા ના પાડે છે.

Relatives and neighbours urge the mother that keeping such a mad daughter at home only ruins one's life; put her in an asylum. The world sees the daughter as a burden and a trouble, but in the mother's eyes she is her own blood.

મા સ્પષ્ટ ના પાડે છે - મારી દીકરીની સેવા હું જ કરીશ.

The mother firmly refuses. She says, how can I leave the child born of my own womb in the care of strangers? Mangu may be mad, but she is my daughter and I alone shall serve her. Before this love, the world's calculation fades.

માની મમતા સ્વાર્થ-ગણતરી વિનાનો અતૂટ સ્નેહ છે - એ જ સંદેશ.

The story says a mother's love looks at no selfishness or calculation. Whether the daughter is mad or sound, the mother's love stays the same. 'The tie of blood' means just this - a natural, selfless and unbreakable bond of love.