New Delhi: Actress Kajal Aggarwal, who is known for her work in films like 'Singham' and 'Special 26', recently faced flak on social media as she was called out for ripping off a poem by an Instagram user.
Kajal, who also shared the first picture of her son Neil with a heartfelt note on Sunday, had penned a poem for her mother as she expressed her gratitude towards her mother Suman Aggarwal for being the best grandmother to Neil.
Taking to her Instagram, Kajal had shared a 7-page creative where she wrote, "Dear Mum, In the past, I've thanked you "For all that you've done for me". Yet recently I've come to learn what those words truly mean. Something has changed within me, Mum, I'm no longer that same girl I've crossed over a threshold, stepped into another world. It seems the light is different here, it's changed all that I knew, And now I have come face-to-face with another side of you."
She continued, "Some nights, I have been wide awake Rocking my babe in the dark, Thinking, is this how you held me, too? With my head pressed against your heart? Did you ever gaze at me and wish you could just press pause on time? Or study my tiny features, and think 'How could you really be mine?' Did you ever have the strangest sense that I was still part of you? That my soul extended from your own, That my heart was your heart, too?"
Curious how things would have been back in the day for her mother, the actress then went on to ask several questions through her poem, "And Mum, did you ever mourn the girl that you had been before?
"I'm nervous to say, but were there days you didn't want to be 'Mum' anymore? For this is what I've been through, Mum, and it's made me weep for you, As I realised that this might be what you went through for me, too. I know I have not journeyed far down this path of motherhood, yet the extent of what you've done for me Is slowly being understood."
She further wrote, "So Mum, I deeply thank you for those long and loving years When you sacrificed it all and gave your strength, your heart, your tears. Thank you for shouldering broken sleep, and soothing my little head, thank you for laying twisted and stiff So that I could share your bed. Thank you for singing through the pain as you nursed me at your breast. Thank you for rocking me, hours on end In the arms that I loved best."
She felt sorry for the times when the two got into altercations, "And thanks for greeting me every day With games and songs and smiles, I hope the love and joy we've shared helped make it all worthwhile. I'm sorry for all the times we fought, as do all girls and their mothers. My words are like barbs, piercing a heart that had loved me like no other. And I really mean it when I say It's a privilege, sure and true, To navigate my motherhood With a compass whose North is you."
"For life has come full-circle, now I nurse my own baby, whispering those lullabies that you once sang to me. So Mum-Mum, if you wondered then as you held me, just us two, whether I'd ever understand those years of me and you. How it felt to put yourself second so that I always came first, exhausted by a perfect love that made your whole heart burst."
"It seems this baby has been a gift, A mirror into our pasts, Reflecting a time when I was your babe, A time of firsts, and lasts. And though your efforts then are still Being understood by me, I've always carried those days with me - For our love is their legacy. So thank you, Mum, for something That in my heart I always knew: I know who loved me like no one else could, It was you, it was you, it was you", She concluded the poem.
The Instagram user who goes by the name Sarah took objection to Kajal's post as the former wrote, "My Dear Mum poem passed off as original work by Kajal Aggarwal. The weird copy of my original caption with...a few words swapped out makes me think it isn't an honest mistake."
After her objection gained momentum on social media, Kajal edited her poem and gave due credit to Sarah. However, the comments on Kajal's post have been turned off.