Changing Times

I feel fortunate being born in a progressive family to a well-educated mother. In early 1950’s when education used to be a distant dream for most of the girls, my mother stayed in hostel for her graduation & post-graduation. She started her job as teacher with a princely salary of Rs 200/- per month and was appointed as Principal of a Degree College at a tender age of 28 years. Back then there were not many women who held such high positions and hence she had a poise and aura of her own.

Those days there was no provision of maternity leave for female employees and hence she had to join back her duties twenty days after her delivery. I can very well imagine physical discomfort and emotional turmoil she would have undergone every time after delivery. Thankfully maternity leave came into force before my youngest sister was born. Being the head of an Institution she had a lot of official responsibilities and back home she had four little daughters to care for. Also in between she acquired doctorate in English Literature. However it was the era where one could get honest trustworthy servants who stayed like family members.

As a child we sisters knew our mother is different from others. She didn’t fit in the frame of a conventional mother. Whereas a typical mother gets up at dawn to cater to the needs of her family members, my mother had the privilege of real luxury. She didn’t have to rush around for sending us off to school rather she would be served tea on waking up by her maid, in a tray – tea pot covered with T-cozy along-with sugar pot and milk pot. Our breakfast and tiffin was also prepared by maid but we never felt anything amiss to wish for a conventional mother. In fact we always took pride being born as her daughter. She had an elegance, poise and charm which obviously came from her education and confidence.

Growing amidst such surroundings it was natural for us sisters to pursue higher studies as we were brought up without any gender bias. Being good at mathematics I opted for Engineering in 1980 –a predominantly male bastion. The results of first trimester exam were put on an open notice board and I had scored highest in a batch of almost 150 students. Someone encircled it with red pen putting the remark “The Shortest got the Highest”- and it enthused me to achieve greater heights. I graduated with a perfect score of 5.0 out of 5.0 OGPA and recently I was delighted to learn that new entrants in my college are still apprised of my achievements.

I joined IIT Delhi for pursuing M. Tech in Integrated electronics. From first semester itself appointment offers from various PSUs started pouring – I had qualified NHPC, NTPC, BHEL, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC However as I wanted to complete my M.Tech, I applied for extension. Whereas other companies granted me some 2-3 months extension, ONGC was the most liberal -granting extension for full one year. I had neither awareness nor any criteria to decide so I completed my M. Tech and joined ONGC though I had offer of Teaching Assistant from IIT Delhi but then I wanted to experience PSU life.

Within a year of my joining in an Oil Sector PSU, I got prestigious offer of appointment from Indian Railways but by then I had got married to a fellow colleague. Though my husband was not against my joining Indian Railways, however, I in the interest of family life, I opted to forego my Railways offer.

Being the daughter of a working mother and also being a mother of two sons, I have seen both sides of the coin. As a working mother we get pangs of guilt for leaving our young children alone at home but then even non–working mothers don’t remain stuck to their children. Rather sometimes working mothers over-work to compensate for their absence. At-least for me it gave me immense pleasure to cook for my little kids. The smile on their faces motivated me to learn to cook their favorite dishes. Of course life had not been a bed of roses with two tiny tots but thanks to my supportive husband who was always by my side shouldering equal responsibility in all walks of life. He would take care of household alone whenever I was on tour.

Today both my sons are employed in reputed companies earning a good fortune and I feel rewarded for raising them to be a good human being and a responsible citizen.