Nanny

Coming back from school would feel like such a conquest. Right from thumping down on the couch to be pampered with fruit drinks or stuffed with heavy healthy main course meals, it would be endearing. Although not just as much as then, but now I miss and cherish those little acts the most. The most I miss is my carelessness. Unbothered, ‘cause I’d know she is going to straighten out all the mess I make before I rush down to study for the next day. Needless to say, conclusively I was an irresponsible kid. 

Times change. Today I have friends working in 9 hr shifts and living with their families in metro cities. It’s not an option to be at Your kid’s service 24X7. But the basic need of a mother to have “a set of eyes incessantly taking care of her kids” can never go away! Wherein a Nanny comes into picture.

I know for a fact, women in my life are dynamic, captivating, charming, and zealous, and the list goes on (for a while at that), well with that they are endearing figures of a mother! But unlike their mothers they ain’t stay-at-home moms. They go out to carve out a niche for themselves. 

And here is where we see the breeding culture called the nanny culture evolving in our country. Truly this culture has always been around. We have Indian epics dotted with strong female personalities with aids to take care of their children. All of these form tales of epic heroism, and charm , that these women emitted and left a league for our modern women to walk into. Modern in the true sense of the word.

But then again, coming back to the leaving off of Your kid in the hands of a stranger, reluctance increases in manifolds. The fact that a mom is a mom after all is further fortified when they cannot leave their kids either in day-care or a stay at home help called Nanny.

Therefore, when it came for Poonam to step out back into the world of black ties and white collar after her maternity leave of 5 months her steps were pretty shaken. And to leave back a 4 month old  in the hands of a nanny was unnerving to both she and her husband. Hence, they both went through a pretty rigorous nanny interviewing session, which went on for days. Finally through a close associate a word of an honest helper reached them And that was when they met Meena.
Meena, all of 23 yrs already had two kids of her own. Who she had to leave with her mother to earn them all bread. And she already had served, two other such Poonams’, for a year and two. And knew what and how to be handled.

But our Poonam her e was not looking for only an immediate solution. She wanted a more stable and long term solution for her problem. She wanted a relationship and a healthy one with that person she was going to entrust her son with. The person who would with her raise her child. 

The fact that even Meena was actually a working mother and a single mom to be precise intrigued her. She felt like a safe set of hands to confide the baby in. And Meena with her polite behaviour, a hearty smile, lively and simple insights into life and devoted selflessness stole their hearts.

This is no creepy story with a villain with sinister motives. This is  an experience. A narration of one.
Am talking about working Moms and how their hearts come to their mouths at the bare mention of their kid’s well being.
How nannies help them deal with this whole situation.
How even a nanny in her own accord is also a working mom.

How she understands the needs of this woman that she works for.
How people reach out to each other in times of need.
  How a simple exchange of resource solve million small problem!

A relationship is built on trust. And there’s no greater trust than that what a mother puts in a stranger, whom she leaves her child with. Am talking about this beautiful relation you build with a foreigner.

Poonam’s son is all of a year now. But am guess with such enriching personalities around he’s going to grow up to be a sensible person. Fun loving. Forward thinking. Practical. Intelligent. And naughty J