As It Comes To Mind

  Some years back, I read in a newspaper article the renowned lyricist Gulzar speaking about his experience as a parent. He said something to the effect that when Meghna, his daughter was born, he felt reborn; reborn as a parent. So, he felt that along with his child he too was seeing and experiencing the world for the first time. In other words, a parent was born! The reason why I remember his words even though many years have passed since I became a first-time mother, is that I feel, no matter how much time may pass, no matter how old your child gets, he or she will always have something new for you, something that will surprise you, thrill you, shock you, agitate you, excite you and ultimately leave you gasping that they managed to get the better of you! That is, your child will always manage some way or another to turn your neat and ordered little world around with his or her sheer unpredictability! For, if there is one thing that every parent, especially mothers can wholeheartedly

"What is the expiry date of a woman's dreams?' This is a line from the thought-provoking and commercially successful Malayalam movie, 'How Old Are You?' The movie marked the comeback of a beloved Malayali actress from a self-imposed fifteen-year sabbatical the reason of which was - unsurprisingly, motherhood!  A few years back, a friend of my mother - a retired nurse, who had been working in Vienna, and was now settled there along with her husband, leading a blissful and contented life, happened to comment, "pregnancy is not a disease or disability. Why is it that we, in India, get so nervous and on edge the moment a woman is discovered to be in the family way? In the West, it is a part and parcel of life - women do not get tense and start to worry the moment they realize they are going to have a baby. They carry their normal day-to-day routines like before. In India, we see the whole family start to worry and foresee all sorts of problems they can possibly im