I know that its wonderful to be a high flying career woman and all that. Yes, I have heard that woman empowerment is important and women have to be financially independent and stuff like that. I agree with all that.  And that is why I find myself, running up and down the whole day, juggling home and work, all too efficiently and sometimes, all too superficially.

I am always in a rush – I have to catch meetings, give lectures, send and receive orders, make sure my kids finish their homework, keep appointments at work…list goes on. I wish I had a moment, just to do nothing at all, maybe just to stare at the blue skies and sigh contentedly.

Let’s face it, I long for the kind of life my mother had when she was at my age.

I remember the clean, beautiful look of my childhood home when my mother had finished cleaning it........the whistle of the pressure cooker which signaled the preparation of dal-chawal........the sounds of Vivid Bharti on the radio set, the voice of Lata Mangeshkar singing ‘Mere Piya ka ghar hai ye, rani hoon main, raani hoon ghar ki’ which my mother would hum along,..........the anticipation of my father’s home coming from his office........the ‘lets make some tea’ plans.........the smell of the pakoras frying........the green chutney which my mother made..........the aam ka achar drying in the sun outside… I miss all that.

When I was a child, I had thought that my future life would mirror my mother’s but it was my mother who was very determined that my life should be different. She had her own reasons to feel that way. She made sure that I was very serious about my career and would single mindedly pursue it. I feel the same way for my children too. I love my parents and that is why I am doing exactly what they had in mind for me. I have two children, a wonderful husband, a career of my parents’ dreams – there is nothing to complain about.

However, sometimes, there is a moment when I pause to stop in my busy life and remember the sound of ‘Mere Piya ka ghar hai ye’ and wish I had been born some sixty years back when the pace of a woman’s life was slower…

........when she could close the doors against the cold, harsh world, when  she could look at a shining, clean home proudly, put on the radio, take out some embroidery and sing along ‘Mere Piya ka ghar hai ye, rani hoon main, raani hoon ghar ki…..’