Yummy Mummy...Are you?

Yummy Mummy…does that make any sense?

It has been long time since I wrote something. Again, this time I did not intend to write anything sensible as I am too tired to think something ‘sensible’. I stumbled upon a page about Yummy Mummy with images of our Bollywood mummies. I always knew 'Mummy cooks Yummy food' but never knew that she also can be Yummy! So the list of Yummy Mummy includes Karishma Kapoor (super cool), Malaika Arora Khan (extremely yummilicious), Shilpa Shetty (too hot to handle), Sonali Bendre (sweetest Yummy Mummy) and if there are any more then I am unaware. The list of not so Yummy Mummy a few months ago was topped by Miss World 1994.

Being a Mummy myself actually makes me feel closely related to a title like this. Is it really worth to even try being one of them? Does a woman or a mother need to succumb to these pressures of looking absolutely yummy with an hourglass figure always? I am a mother to a one year old daughter and I don’t deny that I too hated my body after delivery. I almost looked pregnant for the second time with a new born baby! I could feel that I no longer look the same as I looked before pregnancy. It did take me a while to adjust with the fact that my body will take its own sweet time to regain normalcy. With a third degree tear during my daughter's birth I was not bothered about my looks, my weight for almost 3 months. I lived a life of Zombie with no routine. It all depended on the baby. After 3 months I started feeling a bit settled with motherhood and could think about something else. I also liked reading to the e-mails from baby center about the weekly development of the baby. Life was so simple spending the entire day with 'her' with absolute no worries about science-research…absolutely nothing to an extent that I got an haircut after a year and half and shaped my eyebrows after 4 months! Thanks to a dear friend who took an initiative of taking me out..

The internet plays an important role of feeding you with some nonsense at times. With so much of confusing articles one gets lost in the internet world. Then suddenly popped an e-mail from baby center about ‘fitting in your previous pair of jeans’. That was the moment where I got nervous and suddenly started thinking of my overweight. I wasn’t too much actually, only 4 kilos but there is some different change in the way the body looks after the baby is born.I don’t know what exactly the difference is but the new mother looks bloated. I was no exception (thankfully I still fit into my previous pair of jeans). Being in UK added more to the fire as the new mother’s here start.meeting over coffee’s, lunch, shopping and they look absolutely stunning like a super model with all the make up. From where the hell do they manage to smudge that make up on their faces? I never had that on my mind. Looking beautiful or attractive was something I never thought until lately I reminded myself I am an Indian mother and I am different! I cook everyday and don’t buy take aways , I have to wash a heap of utensils everyday, my baby doesn’t have formula milk  and…and…and I am an Indian Mom after all! Months passed and it got busier and busier with no time to looks at myself with no time to think about Karisma, Lara, Shilpa.

There was a news (non-sense internet scoop yet again) where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was compared to Lara Dutta and Shilpa Shetty (contemporary Mom’s). In that piece of news was a link to Shilpa Shetty’s diet to regain the original figure. After reading that I realized that it is almost impossible for a Mother like me; who is not a celebrity with good money and cannot afford that lifestyle. I neither have any support to look after my baby when I hit the gym nor do I have a cook who cooked all the diet food and presented me the platter everyday! I cannot simply afford that extravagant lifestyle and to be noted she doesn’t have to cook-wash the utensils, no laundry, no other household stuff to do. Our lifestyles/priorities are completely different So this stupid stuff was out of my mind by now and I felt happier .I stopped thinking about the calories with that dollop of ghee on my daal-rice, melting butter on my hot paneer parathas..everything was so guilt free though full of calories. Very recently I again happened to watch an interview by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan about her weight issues and she said something really sensible, every ‘body’ is different and it reacts differently under the given circumstances. One should respect the way their body has reacted to a given condition and that is when I realized that she spoke it right! At last there was someone who meant what she spoke.

Almost all the mother’s (Indian Mom's) wake up early along with their kids who take tuitions or study early morning. They love being there with their kids at every moment rather than going for a walk or gym. They like dropping their kids to various dance classes, painting classes, football coaching, cricket coaching and many more extra curricular activity centres. I know people who laugh on obese females but they don’t know the fact that most of the Indian women gain weight post-pregnancy. A woman gives a family the happiness in the form of a child, she undergoes tremendous pain which cannot be compared to any other pain. She sacrifices her hobbies and likes for the baby but yet she has to face this sarcasm. I am sure that there are females who don’t like to get their pictures clicked post pregnancy and also feel embarrassed to share their pics with someone. I did start eating healthy, making salad lunches, eating more fruits but at the end of the day I felt exhausted as I had to so much which needed a lot of energy. This is when I realized staying fit is more important than following something crazy.

We the Indian Mother’s want to give the best to our families and this comes first before everything and anything. My love for my family is selfless and I don’t care if I am not a Yummy Mummy anymore but the best thing would be if I could strike a balance of both. I am trying to do that…are you? So there is no harm in being a Mummy who cooks Yummy food.

Being in a good shape is absolutely fantastic but don’t lose your mind, sleep over it….accept the way you look and do what makes you happy. Being fit and healthy is good for you and your family. Hey all you Mum’s – are you having enough of vit. D, E, C , calcium levels, Hb count?

P.S: In my early teens I felt that I looked ugly –stout and dark,

       In my 20’s I felt a bit more fat

       In my 30’s I am fatter, trying to look young

       In my 40’s I am charmless with more pounds and feel that I looked the most beautiful in my teens…

      Anonymous

Enjoy every moment and Enjoy Motherhood.