Dear Ma — Though you’ve changed greatly in the last few years, you’re still my good ol’ stubborn mama, and I love ya, woman.

I thank you for not only shooting me out into this crazy world but also for being a trailblazing lady who was fiercely independent in an era when few women were, ran her own business in a new country with only a primary school education, fought for her personal rights and never, never took any bullshit, made unrivaled meatball curries/aloo gobi/parathas, grotesquely danced in her underwear in the middle of the night, and made the lewdest jokes you’d never want to hear from your mama’s mouth.

So in honour of your present and past self, Happy Mother’s Day, Ma; I thank you for this and giving me the foundation I needed to morph into the me I am today.