Parenthood

Rohit belonged to a very well-off industrial family from Gujrat, which had settled in Delhi generations back. He had moved to Mumbai for a stint at one of his father’s companies after his business degree abroad. Shalini was a thorough Mumbaikar he has met in a party and instantly develop a fascination for. She was tall, slender and distinctly pretty.

She had a shiny dusky complexion with a pointed nose and full lips that made heads turn wherever she went. She wore clothes that showed off her beautiful body candidly, yet managed to look totally graceful. Rohit had chased her for almost a year before she has let him take her out. They had been married for a year now after three years of courtship and were wholesomely and helplessly in love with each other. They stayed together in a luxurious rented apartment and were moving soon into their own house in a swanky locality. Rohit managed his father’s chemical factory and paper mill in the suburbs and Shalini was a freelance interior designer.

They were the ideal couple according to all standards. But still they had begun feeling a little incomplete off late. They had thought initially that they did not want or care for a child, but somehow the lack was showing up now in all aspects of their lives. They kept looking at other married couples and wondering what were they missing out on. The patter of feet in the lobby, the giggles from the bedroom and the lovely little hugs at the end of the day, these were just some of the things that their friends spoke about. At the time these two pretended to not care and just nodded for the sake of it. But back home there was a little effect that they carried back. They mulled over what had happened and worried about sharing it with the other person. Navigation through these emotions alone itself was so scary, that they did not want to risk it sharing with the other person.

Shalini asked herself if she was supposed to feel like other women, all maternal and caring, because currently all she cared about was her work. Was she abnormal? Was she not feminine enough? Did caring a lot about her work make her insensitive or devoid of feelings? She did not know the answers and the more she struggled with them, the more her head became muddled. She di not know how to navigate through these scary thoughts!

Rohit wondered if he was so practical and cold-hearted. He wondered what kind of a father he would make. He was still in the process of navigation through the family business so he wondered if he would be able to give the child enough attention and love, the kind that any parent needs to give.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
Image from pixabay