day
Picture courtesy: Emily Hansen
women's
She is a home-maker...
Amanda Barnes roles you play
She is a working mum...
Dr Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar roles you play
Being a working mother is a different style for me; the workaholic who infamously ran a company by herself for the better part of a year now realises that time is a fixed commodity. But when I get home and see him – his eyes, and yes his miles of hair that everyone exclaims about – I never regret the decision to leave on time.
Loving what you do
I love talking about books and book culture (writing, reading, working with authors) so yes, it’s very satisfying.
Inspired by
Every mother in the world – women have been sustaining humanity forever – who don’t get thanked enough.
To be a woman in this century
What it’s always been – juggling the many roles and doing them all well.
30
March 2011
I had a career before I became an expat in 2001. I juggled 12-14 hour days with having a family and while I loved my job, I hated the amount of time it seemed to take away from my husband and children. So when the chance to move to the Middle East came, I grabbed it with both hands. I became a full time mum again, being there when my kids came home from school and going to school events without the stress of rushing back from work or even not making it at all has been fantastic. At times though, I missed being seen as something other than an expat wife and mother and I used to joke that I traded my brain for the Middle East visa in my passport. My youngest is heading to University in the autumn and my current role as cook, maid, confidant, taxi driver, bake sale supplier, laundry woman, answer machine etc will be downsized, so as part of an overall brand strategy my new title was to have been ‘Empty Nester’. But as usual, life has a way of throwing a curve ball or two. Just by answering a ‘tweet’ for bloggers (Twitter and blogging is my way of avoiding the housework, which I loathe!) who were interested in contributing to a new magazine, I have ended up as the new food and restaurant reviewer for IloveQatar.net.
Loving what you do
I love being a mum and yes I’m going to miss my boy – if you can call a six feet adult male with a hairy face and deep voice ‘boy’ – when he flies the nest. But I went through it when his sister left five years ago and I survived. Now it’s just a question of focusing on this new chapter in my life and enjoying it to the full. I’ll still be a mum – just a long distance one! I have always enjoyed my food, so to be given the chance to review restaurants is a dream come true for me, although I’m not loving what it’s doing to my ever
expanding waistline! It has been really energising for me in recent months, to have worked so closely with the ILQ team on the plans for the new foodie section and I’m very excited about the future and looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
Inspired by
There are so many women that spring to mind with a question like this, so it is difficult to choose one person. However, there is one woman who has been supportive and my own private cheerleader for as long as I’ve known her. Her name is Karen Browne-Vohs and she is a writer living in New York. We have been friends for almost 14 years and I know that when I need her, she will be there, always, even when faced by challenges in her own life. She is unfailingly loyal and she will not tolerate me putting myself down. We all need a ‘Karen’ – someone to depend on, someone who will honestly tell you that yes, your bottom does look big in that, someone to hand you the tissues when your heart is broken, someone to lift your spirits and push you into being the best that you can be.
To be a woman in this century
We as women have so many more opportunities than our mothers and grandmothers had. We have a huge responsibility to our daughters and granddaughters to carry on a legacy left to us by the women in our past. I constantly told my daughter as she was growing up, that she can do anything, that she can be anything if she wants it enough. I told her on a regular basis that she was intelligent, funny, talented, smart and beautiful. We owe it to our daughters to instil in them the power of self belief. What women of the 21st century have, is choice. The choice to be whoever and whatever we want.