A SuperMom's Day

Kissing the brow of her sleeping daughter, she gets up to make a cup of tea for herself. She badly needs it to energize her for the day’s hectic activities.

Pam, short for Paramjeet, walks to the kitchen and scans the fridge. Tanu, her daughter wants pasta in her lunch box. The maid still has not turned up but she can’t possibly wait for her and starts to cut the vegetables. As she takes out the carton of milk she hears the sound of the bell. Thank god the maid is here. It will be smooth run now. Her mother in law would get up at seven while her father in law is already out for his yoga session.

Her sister in law, who is here for a few days will get up only after ten but her children will be up soon. She goes to make mango shake for all, instructs the maid to prepare breakfast and tells what all is to be made for the lunch and then hurriedly tries to browse through the headlines of the newspaper with a cup of tea in her hand.

The bank where she is the Vice President would soon be taken over by another major American bank. The rumors have made employees of the bank jittery. Not sure of the policies of the new organization, they are all worried about their jobs. She on the other hand is not so much perturbed. With impeccable record, she would most probably be retained or perhaps could be offered better position and facilities.

“Mom, I have to make a project for my class” Tanu had told her before going to sleep. There is a list of things her daughter requires to complete her project. Pam gets up to write down all the items needed for her project. 'Must ask Rahul to arrange them today', she reminds herself.

She walks back to the kitchen and sees over the work of her maid. Before going for a bath she must check that the maid has prepared breakfast for all. Her father in law, without fail takes cornflakes, children love eating French toasts and her mother and sister in law would relish Paranthas. Soon she packs three lunch boxes, one each for Tanu, herself and Rahul.

Satisfied Pam walks back to her room to wake her husband up. While she goes for a bath and gets ready to move out of the house, he will take charge of their daughter and get her ready for the school. Rahul will then drop Tanu at the bus stop and wait till she takes her school bus.

“Mom and dad are going to Shimla tomorrow” Rahul announces yawning and rubbing his eyes. There is a momentary tension in the air. If her in -laws go out of station, they will have to make alternate arrangement for their daughter to be picked up from the school bus and be with her till they are back from office. Both of them won’t be back before seven or eight. She feels irritated again. Why can’t they tell her in advance but then she cools down. Life for her has been hopping from one crisis to the other. At her bank too, some or the other crises keeps cropping up but then it is her job to find solutions to them. For her, life has been walking on a tight rope, balancing her house and job and even her relationships; so far, she has managed them brilliantly, she will do so now also.

“I shall call the crèche lady” she says and hands Rahul the list of things for her daughter’s project.  It has become a routine for her now, whenever her in -laws go out, they announce it suddenly, giving her very short time to make arrangements. Calling school authorities to drop her daughter at short notice at her parents place becomes impossible then. Thankfully the crèche lady takes good care of her daughter. She reminds herself to bring some gift for Kamlesh, the owner of the crèche.

 Pam wakes her daughter up, hugs and then coaxes her to brush her teeth and goes to take a bath. From here on it's Rahul turn to take care of Tanu.

She goes to the kitchen to check everything.

“Mam, can you lend me one thousand Rupees in advance?”

Why do you need it?” she asks the maid.

“My daughter needs a new dress. The school has changed the uniform this year” The maid looks at her expectantly.

“Why don’t you put your children in Government school…they are good and the fees is so less besides they will provide the school uniform too?” Pam asks her.

 “My children want to study in English school” the maid says hesitantly.

That feeling Pam understands. She knows the mother behind that demand. She knows the maid’s husband is an alcoholic and never contributes anything in running of the house. Everything depends on this lady who is ambitious and somehow wants her children to do well in life.

 Pam takes out thousand rupees from her purse and hands her the money. She hugs her daughter once again and walks out of the house where the driver is waiting for her.

Getting inside the car, she makes her comfortable on the back seat and flicks open her mobile. She remembers Swati, another employee at her bank. Yesterday, Swati was in tears while submitting her resignation simply because she had no support at home and in the absence of a good maid, her eleven year daughter was getting neglected. Pam had tried to console Swati and wished her all the best.

 At four today, she has a meeting with cluster heads but before she starts to think about it, Pam is dialling. She calls Kamlesh, the crèche lady and starts to discuss about the arrangements for her daughter to be picked up from the bus stop and rest of the day’s schedule… 

 In the traffic running bumper to bumper, Pam has an hour to herself before she reaches her office. After talking to kamlesh, she calls her mother who has not been keeping well for sometime… there are two more calls to be made before she starts to think about the bank and her meeting later in the day…..




 
         




                       





Dr Madhvi