Motherhood has made me an Incurable Optimist
* Background Art Credit: Anoushka Rajan
No other job puts you in the deepest end, tests your vulnerabilities at the extreme and ruthlessly exposes your imperfections. Your stamina, spirit, soul and endurance are on continuous trial.
When you are a mother, you are constantly solving complex problems and dealing with ambiguity, risks and change. You need to make decisions with conviction and integrity using your head and your heart. I instinctively put my entire being into this role and that’s helped me in developing intuition and self-awareness - enormously useful as an entrepreneur.
Motherhood has given me a genuine shot at aiming to become the best version of myself as a human - and to achieve that I figured I need to co-create the manual with the child. Here’s my all time favorite song on parenting by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with the most beautiful lyrics that transcends time. The first half of the song is advice to teach your children well and the second half is for young folks to “teach” their parents well.
Teach the children well ( with lyrics) - Crosby Stills
My Energy Source
There is a lot in common between Mandira and Anoushka. To start with, they share the same birthday! They both enjoy cricket, love Schitt’s Creek and laugh at the same memes. Both of them are empathetic individuals who have a positive disposition and a ‘giving’ attitude.
But they are quite different, when it comes to their intellectual interests and natural talents.
Anoushka’s core identity is of an artist while Mandira has had a strong affinity towards Chemistry (runs in the genes, my grandfather, father and sister studied Chemistry) right from middle school. Mandira is frugal while Anoushki likes the ‘good life’! Both of them, like good Sagittarians, are highly adaptable, very loyal to their friends, thrive on travel and are ever ready to dine out.
I draw huge amounts of my energy from the girls. They are my ‘go to’ people for big & small things - from which earring to wear to which fonts to use in presentations to intense discussions on human behaviour.
The Scientist & The Artist
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart
– Winnie the Pooh
