Being a single mother, working in a tough schedule, and managing her time for children was the biggest challenge after she came back to India from US five years back. When she lost her husband in a massive heart attack in US, she decided to pack up and come back to India.
The one night their father went to sleep and he never woke up, worked on the minds of the little kids and left the young mother with a set of responsibilities she was not at all prepared for. Within a year she decided to take her children home.
“The evenings all about trying to console them, stop them crying and take them out of their trauma. The other task was to teach them the languages here”.
However, Sandhya’s struggle did not come to an end there. After she came back to India, her hometown Chennai from US, she had to face the harsh reality of a young widow’s life — social isolation and handling people’s perception. The ones who were once friendly and invited her family to weddings and other gatherings would now leave her out. But the situation helped her to become a person with a tough mindset, strong and independent. She believes, “Mothers have the unique quality of nurturing their child”.
Message for her children: They need to be strong and resourceful individuals. I just want them to be educated, be financially independent women. They need to be supportive, when they see the challenges that lead them to become stronger persons.
Message for the mothers: You need to be extremely supportive of kids. You can't be extremely strict nor be too lenient, and you need to adapt your way of thinking. Understand them and be their friend and emotional guide. You need to communicate with them in a friendly manner and strike a balance especially if you are a single parent.
Anita Mahadevan: co-founder of Design Foundry branding agency and mother of a two-year old daughter Ananya.
“Being a mom changed everything as it became important to balance time between my now two-year old girl and work. But my husband and I looked at it as an opportunity to start a new phase in my life”, Anita says.
She started with a PR agency, then moved to marketing. Her passion for arts made her take on an editorial role. “I was the founding editor of Arts Illustrated magazine. Today my husband and I run Design Foundry along with a paper project, a not-for-profit indie publishing house and Art Satva, an online art magazine with a keen focus on Indian artists.”
“I am a new mom, but at 38 that felt daunting. I remember post operation, just after delivery when I was rolled into my room alone. They put my daughter in my arms and my pain disappeared”, adds Anita while expressing her role as
mother.
Message for her children: I hope my daughter will be self-confident and have the clarity to take the right decisions for herself. If I can help her achieve that, I am blessed.
Message for the mothers: Once you are a mom it becomes, in my opinion, very important not to forget who you are or were apart from a mom, as that is what your child will observe and learn from too.
Preeti K Shah: entrepreneur of a boutique ‘Fashion & Fusion,’ brought up in Gujrat and settled in Chennai.
As a mother and a working woman, she thinks it’s important to strike a balance by giving ample time to work and family. It is important to prioritise on a daily basis, plan a schedule beforehand and execute as planned, keeping in mind emergencies. She often discusses work with her husband and kids and draws inputs from them in order to plan the next day.
She has had a rather supportive family whose encouragement has never ceased to amaze her. She considers life’s challenges and everything put before us as a task that has to be accomplished.
“Being a mother isn’t the same as being a father. It takes courage and will to be one and I feel more than proud to be a mother of children whose support has been undying,” Preeti adds.
Message for her children: I'd like to thank my children first for making me who I am today and for being who they are today without which I might have not come this far. I’d like them to know the importance of being inspired and to follow their dreams.
Kala P Jain:a dedicated homemaker with two children, born and raised in Bengaluru, moved to Chennai after getting married.
According to Kala, being a homemaker comes with its own set of duties and responsibilities. While it is not a corporate job, but definitely a fulltime commitment, probably more. “As far as making time for my children goes, I make sure I listen to them first and am there for them even when they don’t need me or have to ask”, she adds.
Apart from that, she is an avid reader ever since childhood, and stocking the library with self-help and life science books has been a hobby. She truly believes that there is nothing wrong with a corporate job, but it is important to also applaud homemakers for what they do as well. Responsibilities and duties sometimes overlap each other, but they all revolve around the fact that the mother needs to be there for her family and children and make sure they are safe and satisfied.
Message for her children: I want to take this opportunity and tell them that I love them unconditionally. I want to tell them to become better individuals and always be open to growth and learning.
Message for the mothers: We mothers need to struggle to keep up with the children who are growing up way to fast.
