Excerpts from the life of a working mother

The inspiration to write this message was the last semester of my MBA at Ignou. Sometimes it is grueling to manage a job, family, children and adult education. It is a great balancing act, but worth every minute.

Assignments - Last of the Legions

I have been obsessed with assignments for the past two and a half months and I cannot stop writing this for all working mothers (and good fathers as well) who is doing an EMBEEAEI. I had written all my university exams and certification without skipping any of my favorite TV shows and movies. But this one has been an amazing journey throughout.

The statistics:

I dried up 3 pen.
2 bundles of A4 sheets.
Wrote 32 questions and around 320 final pages.
Searched net around 75 hours.
Spent a total of 260 hours approximately. Some the assignments were written in single sit and it took nothing less than 8 hours for each .

The Lessons I can give:
How :
To make 20 chapattis in 20 minutes.
To make idlis and write assignments together.
To convert kitchen and bathrooms to learning centers.
To mange your time efficiently?( say you prayers in the car, eat assignments and food together etc)

The gains: My 4 year old daughter learned the importance of studies. She can spend hours in front of books. Queried the answer goes “I’m writing assignments"
I made my husband compassionate. He had been both father and mother for my kids in the last 1 month. One Friday he was going through the daily chore of a woman and exclaimed “I never knew you do all these on a day". "Yes, I do all these + do a mushrif job + write assignments"
My 7 year old daughter learned to make omelets and wash her clothes - quite and early achievement.

The management lessons:
Lesson 1 - Never let your Spouse (especially a husband) proof read your assignments. My school, my spelling, my college all was under question.”Are you writing a fiction or an essay" was his last question.

Fiction or essay I have put my soul in to it.

Lesson 2: Never let a father help the children with homework. They may bring home all red marks in their books.

Lesson 3: Never let your children know that you are doing assignments.
I happened to meet my daughters' teachers. The older one's teacher complained that she submitted her project last and the excuse was: "My mom is busy with assignments".
Small one was a step ahead. She told her teacher not to give her homework at all since her Mom is busy with assignments.

Lesson 4: Never let your spouse go to your study center.
My husband's theory until October 25 th was “What assignments and what Ignou, "Kucha likhneka or kuch dhenaka ".He took one set of my assignments to Mr. Amjad. Then I started seeing ghosts of Amjad, Rajan, Santana , Martin all in one.

The loss:
3 weeks I did not go to church.
I missed all social activities for the past 2 months.
I missed two vital appointments for my daughter.
My daughters have become cartoon addicted.
I have not called my families back in India for last 1 month.
I lost 2 kilos and last one week and was sleeping only 3 hours a day.

THE BIG GAINS: Still waiting for it. While I'm posting this, I just know the results of MS-63 only. Whatever be the results, I must say congratulations to my husband and daughters who took it all the way along with me."

Success cannot be bought. To achieve it, you must set yourself on fire."-Vinay Chhabra

Regards,
Jainy