Birth to rebirth, how Deepika Kumari is mastering the juggling act of motherhood

New mother Deepika paused our conversation for a good reason ldquoEk minute hold kijiye hold on for a minuterdquo she told me on the spur of the moment and was back in less than two minutes I smiled chortled and bantered throughout our tenminutelong phone call as she talked about her demanding schedule getting back on her feet after almost 15 months looking after the family and switching back into mom gear every so oftenHer voice was filled with ambition and a bit of trepidation as she figured out loud how she will meet her own expectations She laughed again then paused as she sorted the next part of her day and I could almost hear her sigh as she planned for the dayrsquos lunch laundry and a second to squeeze in a little downtime with her fivemonthold daughter tucking her in for another nap All before she shifts back into training mode when the house is quietSensing time and again the familiar frustration that comes from the tug and pull of being an athletemother who happens to be nurturing a family and career simultaneously I queried whether she found her lsquonewrsquo tasks abnormally strenuous ldquoBahut hi acha experience hai Motherhood is a lovely experiencerdquo pat came the replyThe World No 2 trained until seven months into her pregnancy before taking a break to look after her rapidly growing baby She gave birth in early December and was back on the range before this new yearldquoLife has taken a 360degree turn lately bursts out in laughter It is very difficult to manage everything Family ground baby me timeI sometimes become very lazy giggles Main kya kya karu Slowly and gradually itrsquos getting better But Irsquom enjoying this stage of my liferdquo she continuedAlso Read Deepika falters husband Das returns after year compound star Verma out of top4Deepika explained how often she felt she was divvying up the hours to get all her chores done and sometimes it seemed that everything suffered a little because of it Perhaps that did happen here and there but the idea that what she has been doing as a mom and an athlete was worth doing at all kept her striving to do her best she later remarkedEven as the acceptance and support for Olympian moms have grown one issue that can never be fully solved perhaps because it is an emotional as opposed to a material concern is the internal tugofwar between career and family In the case of Olympians whose prime years as athletes overlap almost exactly with their prime years as childbearers the difficult choices and painful sacrifices are perhaps doubly soldquoI am not able to practice so often now as I have to take care of my daughter Actually I wanted to stay at home for three months only to spend time with her Otherwise she doesnrsquot even recognise me as of now laughs I go for practice in the morning spend two hours on the ground and get back home I do my strength training in the evening At times I am in a lot of pain as my body has undergone several changes after childbirth I take rest accordingly I have also gained too much pregnancy weight in these few months laughsrdquo she addedFor every athletemother besides Deepika getting back to the ground means taking things slowly and learning how to balance the responsibilities of motherhood and their sports Pregnancy takes a heavy toll on the body and there are often traumatic effects of childbirth that simply cannot be planned for The pressure to return to their previous standard of play is immense and to make things even trickier they have a whole group of often younger fitter players breathing down their neck and vying for their positionldquoThere are several changes in the body during this time I have resumed training after almost 15 months so it will take some time to get things back to normal The muscles have become weak Initially I could not take a single attempt but things are getting better with each passing day I am finally able to do ten pushups or 20 crunches now laughsrdquo said the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion who is rushing to return to formIt is often said that it takes an army to get things done in this world And while we have so often talked about the women behind the men it is high time that women were the ones in the spotlight as leaders or allround getting it done legends So while women like Deepika have been making waves putting their extreme smarts to important use we can spare a small moment to applaud the spouses who have taken on the supporting roles in a perfect mannerldquoAtanu husband and fellow Olympian is very caring He is different in every role I see two different Atanus on the ground and at home He is very familyoriented as well Yes he is the full package laughs And he has always been supportive of merdquo said DeepikaAlso Read Compound archers make clean sweep power India to top with 14 medalsThe pair missed out on a fairytale mixed team outcome at Tokyo 2020 when Pravin Jadhav qualified higher and replaced Das with the pair eventually finishing sixthldquoHe has not had too much time with the baby yet Bechara Poor fellow He comes home for five days then goes back This is how it has been so far Now the question about how he will be as a father can only be answered by my daughter after she grows up laughsrdquo she addedNow what ultimately is the biggest factor for women athletes with children in reaching the winners podium again It may in fact be psychological As experts put it they may feel more relaxed and confident now because their sport is no longer the only focus of their life They win because they are not afraid to fail Do you hear Deepika