The swollen 9 months

Motherhood is a wierd time. Sure is.

At one moment you are active and slim and checking out various 34 size kurtas to go with your 32 waist jeans….and in the next moment you foot is swollen and the new sandal you got does not fit you. So much for retail therapy!

But pregnancy is not only about wishful body figures and tiredness. There is a calmness which no other phase in life gives. Even marriage. You have nine months to develop your tummy but also to develop your own brain. There is so much time to introspect that many a novel can be written. It’s a vacation of its own. Being at peace and generally doing nothing becomes necessary not just from the physical rest point of view but also important for the mental growth of the baby. Imagine the sheer absurdity of a pregnant woman living near Kolkata railway station!

So what do preggy women do?

The religious women pray and apparently our foremothers used to do just that. Then there are women who indulge in their artistic abilities.

For the less fortunate in terms of craft(woman)ship and not-so-relgious ones,there is always the galpals who offer regular visits and calls. And Zuckerberg’s gift to preggy ladies -facebook. After all the baby has to have some facebook inheritance. It is matter of prestige that the mommy says after the kid is a year old that her Johnson and Johnsons baba already has an account and likes Lady Gaga.

In reality, the entire 9 months isn’t all about the baby. For most women,they only come to know that they have been ‘knocked up’, in the 2^nd month or so. Then it takes 2 months more to get used to the fact they will soon be queuing up the admissions line of the nearby English school. For most first time mamas (including me), the enlightenment comes only in the 5^th month. The sort of enlightenment that actually there is life in you, that no matter what a freak you have been its now time to sit up and take responsibility of this new person. A discipline comes which is not only about the diet but also in one’s behavior. After all life’s biggest report card will be assessed by one’s kids, ain’t it?

But does all this have to be overwhelming?

Nope! It depends upon one’s attitude. Just like every phase,this too comes and goes. The sun will set,gold rate will rise,your aunty will go on package tour to Mauritius and governments will dissolve. Nine months will be over and some 20 years later probably you will sit with your hubby over a cup of Lipton tea and say ‘bees saal kaise guzar gaye….’