My father, mother, younger brother, and I lived together in our home. My father worked the night shift, so he had no holiday even on Diwali; he left for the office at 7:00 PM. Our family priest arrived at 8:00 PM to perform the evening prayers and departed by 10:00 PM. My younger brother went to a club, announcing that he would stay there overnight. Since we only had one bedroom in the house, it was just my mother and me at home. That Diwali night, I performed a spiritual discipline (sadhna) with my mother.

After everyone else had left, I lay down on the bed. My mother came into the room to change her clothes. Our bathroom was common, located three floors below, so she began changing right there in the room while I remained lying down. She turned on the light and started removing her saree by spinning it backward around her body. Once the saree was off, she turned toward me and began unbuttoning her blouse.

I turned my face away. After unbuttoning all the buttons, she asked me, “Please hand me that blouse hanging on the rope.”

I looked over at my mother and saw her two large, firm breasts exposed. I thought to myself, “I have taken a vow of celibacy; I should not let lust enter my mind. Besides, this is my own mother.” I retrieved the other blouse from the rope beside us and handed it to her. This wasn’t anything new, as my mother had previously opened her blouse in front of me even when my father was present.

In fact, they both knew that I knew nothing about sex because I was a man devoted to prayer and readings, and being a Brahmin added to that image. So, I handed her the blouse, and she put it on right in front of me. Then, she went to the bathroom to change into another saree. When she returned, she had put on an old saree and sat down to wash the dishes.

While washing the dishes, my mother suddenly developed severe pain in her lower back and began groaning in agony.

I got up, held her hand, and laid her down on the bed. “Mother, rest for now,” I said.

She continued groaning until midnight. Finally, she woke me up and said, “Chandan, get up. The pain is unbearable. Do something, son.”

“What should I do, Mother?” I asked.

“Give me a massage,” she replied.

“How should I massage you?”

“Heat some oil first, then I will need a massage,” she instructed.

I immediately heated the oil and brought it to her. “There is severe pain in my back; massage that area first,” she said.

I applied the oil to my mother’s back and began rubbing it gently. She moaned, “Ahhhhhh Uhhhhh,” in pain. Then she said, “Massage lower down.”

“Mother, you are wearing a saree. How can I massage lower down?” I asked.

At that moment, she pulled her saree down slightly from her waist, revealing her buttocks partially. I placed my hand on that area, and she said again, “Lower.” Pulling the saree down further with her own hands, more of her backside became visible.