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LIFESTYLE
JUST A MOM
Namrata Vora discovers in motherhood a joyous and spiritual experience
Want
staib gnol cannot be put into words. I have grown so much as a person as my baby grew. My planning, time- and crisismanagement abilities, creativity and much more - all the 'valued skills in a corporate scenario, have improved dramatically. My 'boss' gives me instant feedback - if she is happy, there is a huge big hug; if she is hungry/sleepy/bored, she lets me know in no uncertain Aluni
terms.
The confidence I had in my abilities has shot through the roof, having helped a tiny baby grow into an energetic toddler. Oh, the joy I got from watching her first attempts to crawl, stand, walk!.. I remember how I called up my hubby who was fast asleep in Hong Kong when she took her first steps. If I bump into a woman with a kid about the size of mine, and especially if she is a desi, we become instant pals; this way I make acquaintances at the rate of 3 a week, some of whom I know will be friends for life. I take my kid to baby music sessions, we go together to the zoo, to the park to feed the ducks, or just for long walks with no particular destination. Going to the local supermarket is a big adventure, it takes us two hours to do what would normally take me less than 20 minutes. I have all the time in the world for her and so go along at her pace she stops on the way to watch leaves flying in the wind, inspects ants in a hole on the pavement, stares at people getting
on and off a bus, grins back at grannies who stop and smile at her indulgently. I have rediscovered so many of life's little things. We go to the 'libaby' together - she chooses her books herself. She looks hard at the pictures, points to them and asks yeh kaun hai?' a few hundred times a book. She chatters non-stop all the time she is awake - even invents 'shorees' like that of a donkey and a lion who met each other in the forest and said good morning to each other!
drun ort
36
O YOU'VE GIVEN UP EVERYTHING? JUST sacking out at home now?"
I used to react rather violently to this question but now I guess I have mellowed down. I just smile and think something along the lines of: "Forgive him Father, for he knows not what he says."
Four years ago, armed with a degree each from an IIT and an IIM, I had big dreams of reaching the top of the corporate ladder. Life was a fairy-tale - I married my college sweetheart and we had the breezy life that couples with double incomes and no kids do. Till one fine day my doc gave the verdict - I was going to be a mom! It was a bolt from the blue, completely unexpected. I had my share of the usual pregnancy problems so much so that I had to give up my job in a management consultancy since the travel schedules were too hectic for a would-be mom. I quit, vowing to return once the baby arrived. Little did I know what was to come - my hubby got an offer based in London, and after some deliberation we decided to take it up. That is how we landed in London, our four-month-old bundle of joy in my arms. His job requires him to travel almost 15 days in a month, which leaves me with the kid, home alone. No cooks here, no live-in maids. Add to that my total inexperience in matters of babies and running a home - having spent half my life in hostels.
More than a year since the birth, I got top grade in the annual performance appraisal'. After her routine check-up yesterday, the paediatrician said that my 18month-old was doing 'phenomenally well', she was as sound as a child can be mentally, physically and emotionally.
Motherhood is hard work, backbreaking hard work. The required primary qualifications are infinite patience and oodles of stamina. There is no cash compensation, no leaves, no glamorous designation - you are 'just a mom'. Nobody gives you an appraisal sheet with things written on it like 'exceptional problem-solving skills - deserves promotion'. Sure it was a tough decision to put my career on the back burner and take up the challenge of parenting. But I simply could not get myself to trust my treasure with day-care or a professional carer. Do I regret it? Would I have things different? The answer is a resounding 'No'!
Giving and receiving unconditional love is something that
"Four years ago, I had
big dreams of reaching
the top of the corporate ladder. Instead,
I became a Mom"
Jain Spirit December 2002 - February 2003
Jain Education International 2010_03
Son ei nithe mago oels sofods ar
What about the man of my life my hubby? The simple things we did together like lazing around till midmorning on Saturdays are out of question now; the kid has to be fed her breakfast on time, her tummy does not differentiate weekends from weekdays. We can no longer rush off at a moment's notice to catch the latest movie or play or
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