MIDWAY : Mom is the word

I fancy caps and cowboy hats. I do have a collection in my wardrobe. Nevertheless, I unwaveringly wear the one that has ‘MOM’ written on it. I like a mother’s aptitude to morph into different avatars. Sometimes, it turns into a chef’s cap; suddenly, it turns crisply into a nurse’s bonnet, or a whip lashing cowboy hat with lasso materialising in hand to rein that toddler in. Of late, it has been sitting on head resembling the swastika cap that Hitler wore. That is because when the kids grow up, the hat evolves as well.

Being mother is like being different people all at once, like teacher, friend, writer, designer and you name it. It’s a near schizophrenic exercise and to imagine that most women eventually turn into mothers! It is also the most life-altering experience a woman can have. Ask a woman which role she finds most fulfilling and she will tell you “motherhood”.

Being mother is the best job in the world, even if it’s a career path on which there are no reference points, no promotions, no road maps to guide on a precarious journey to cope with the guaranteed anxiety and heartache. Despite the fact that she is overworked and tired and that this role is a backend job. So where is the payoff? I do not know about the whole, but I presume a large number of Asian women are on the same page. Women working outdoors get more respect than housewives working at home from dawn till dusk.

Still today, her importance in our life is not acknowledged. But I prefer to call them ‘super mom’. A couple of months ago, in an ‘Oprah’ show for the first time mothers talked about how physically and emotionally draining the experience was. It is about reinventing, channelising emotions, developing a sense of humour, accepting that Murphy’s Law exists, discovering inner strengths...

I think the greatest joy in being a mother is finding a new ‘you’ hidden somewhere inside. It is in the gurgle and smile, the unexpected wet sloppy kiss and the feeling that the baby knows his or her mother inside out, literally. It is in knowing that the baby can have several siblings, many aunts, even a father somewhere out there, but has only one mother with selfless love. Forgive me for sounding soppy, but mothers have always earned this license.