“Why don’t you work Mom?

“Why don’t you work Mom? What do you do all day long? All my friends’ mothers work?” the question was a bouncer for Meera, it came from her 12yrs old daughter Miyara.

Trying to come out of the state of shock, she tried to convince Miraya that it was for her betterment, her upbringing only, but the child was in no mood to listen and ran away with a worn out look.

The question took away whatever peace of mind meera had, after a not very encouraging PTM, That question took her 12-13yrs back, when she was a young girl in her early 20’s. She had done computer science engineering, struggled to get job as a fresher and with lot of hard work and willingness to learn new things she saw success in corporate world. Before she got married she had touched the fancy salary of “7 Digits”, all was going well friends, shopping and romance all was as per Meara’s wishes. When she got married to love of her life Mihir the life changed a little still it was all cool. It was a little tough than what it was like staying in PG or with parents, but that’s how life moves on. As they say change is the only inevitable thing. She was doing really good at office, one of her most awaited project from one of her investment banking clients was in pipeline she has to go to UK for a couple of months, she was really looking forward to it. Mihir was very supportive and always encouraged meera to achieve greater success.

One fine morning in all her rush and excitement of life she realized that she had missed her period cycle of this month, there was equal fear and excitement, the very next day she took the urine strip test, the news was +ve, she informed Mihir, he was so excited that he was jumping and dancing and running all thru the house, he thanked her so many times. Before informing everyone else she just wanted to be double sure and took an appointment with the Gynecologist. The reports were supposed to take a couple of days. It was appraisal time in office everyone was excited to get the letters know the increments but meera was waiting for the doctors call, When she got the good news about getting her promotion at work same day she got confirmation from doctor about being pregnant.

She informed her mom, mom in law and off course the BOSS.

She continued working till the very last month, as Miraya was an easy child and didn’t trouble much except a couple of vomits and morning sickness. The day Miraya was born was one of the happiest days of Meera’s life. She started leaning new thing how to take care of baby, how to handle thing, vaccinations, feeds, diapers everything. With a child a mother is born. For her Miraya was her Universe she was so engrossed in her motherhood that sometimes even Mihir would start feeling lonely and neglected. The maternity leave was about to get over, the time to get back to work started approaching, Meera never thought it would be so tough to get back to work, she remembered the working moms in her teams, there guilt, their cribbing all of that she never bothered about was going to be hers soon. This thought of leaving Miraya behind and going to work was not going down well with her. It was a war in her head, how to manage? How will the baby manage? Will the maid or daycare be able to take good care of the baby?

Finally she thought of speaking about this to her family, sportingly and willingly her mom in law offered all possible help to take care of the baby but Meera was still not convinced, she became so possessive about Miraya that she was unable to trust anyone about her care. After all the discussions and brainstorming sessions she told Mihir, that she can’t continue working, she can’t leave the baby home or at daycare.

Mihir tried convincing her about how important her work is for her, the opportunity and success she is getting at work, but nothing worked. She already had made up her mind. She informed the same at office.

Since that day till today, she was revolving around her world that was Miraya. She was thinking only from her perspective. It was not that Miraya didn’t love her but the perspective both had was different. Now getting into teens Miraya wanted a different image of her mom, when she spoke to her friends and they spoke about their mothers, there work for Miraya something was missing. She also wanted to boast about her mother’s job, promotions, and recognition. So meera still lest in her thoughts started thinking should I get back to work now? Is it that Miraya doesn’t need my anymore? Will any company hire me now? Am I not too old to get back to work? Will I be acceptable in the corporate world? All the questions clouded in her head, however the most important question that lingered for longest was does she really want to get back to work, what would make her happy, is she bound to change her course every time because of someone else? The list was long and being a performer at home and work Meera was surely going to find the answers that were right for her.