Pritha's blog

Looking over your shoulder I am learning to see the world,

A rainbow or two, and watch colorful petals unfurl.

Looking over your shoulder I will ride the waves,

Hike a tough trail and explore haunted caves. 

..Mother Superior says this to Kitty in the movie Painted Veil - a very interesting movie set in 1925 China about a British scientist and his wife who try to battle a lot of issues inside and outside their marriage while the Cholera epidemic takes lives by the dozens. The context of this statement with reference to the movie is mostly about the love and fidelity in a marital relationship.

A few days ago, a friend who is a new mom of a handsome little one month old boy, left me the kindest message.  She wanted to talk to me about my decision to be a stay-at-home-mom (for an undetermined period of time) after the birth of my baby girl Parijat, who has just turned 6 months old. My friend asked for my insight into what helped me make the decision that I took and how I felt about it today.

 
Isn’t it funny how after one becomes a parent, one assumes that as a mom or dad, one is the storehouse of all forms of superior knowledge and that all lessons shall flow from parent to child. It is as if parenthood gives us imaginary wings of proficiency and we now have irrefutable powers of vision, perfection and of course we are the ones who can guide our tykes and teenagers to a life of fulfillment and success in every way shape or form.  OF COURSE we do… ummm, if I said otherwise, a lot parents would stop reading my ramblings and that wouldn’t be prudent now would it ?  But this time, I chose to focus on the 2 way street of parenting, the one that leads from the child to the parent and all that comes with it.

 I am a new mom at 41… and yes it was a 2011 new year resolution and here I am in 2012 attempting to demonstrate the gall of writing a regular column on parenting !!! Well the good thing is that, it is NOT an advice column.

Yesterday was Teacher’s Day back in India. I recall that day very well from my childhood, when no matter what grade you were in, you would make a card for your favorite teacher, bring him or her flowers, or have a craft project dedicated to one’s teacher etc. There was an essay or a talk we would do about the first Vice President of independant India – Dr. S. Radhakrishnan as he was a great teacher and his birthday was September 5th.

A few days ago, a very interesting conversation was generated on my page on Facebook. Putting the “I wrote- she wrote – he wrote” part aside, coz the reactions could have come from anyone on my friends’ list, the incident did spark a bit of introspection on my part.How Indian am I? What defines my “Indian”ness or sense of nationalistic pride? Or have I lost in the last decade or so, as I have been so comfortable and at home in this country.