Life As A Young Mum!

All of 24, Pooja Maru battled every doubt that faced her when she announced her pregnancy. Her family’s support, eventually, outweighed them all

- Kriselle Fonseca

While girls her age are living it up on raucous nights out with friends, and posting drool-worthy, carefully filtered getaway photos in their well thought-out #ootds, Mumbai-based homemaker Pooja Maru doesn’t feel the need to keep up. Her days involve feeding, cleaning, diaper duties and more, and she does it all with a big smile on her face. At just 24 years old, you’d think one would pine after living life the true ‘millennial’ way, that seems to be all the rage on social media, but for Pooja, life is just as, if not, even greater.

I often find myself caught up in an endless browsing spree on social media, enticed its popularly glam facade—postcards from around the world at the click of a button, or snapshots from a ‘lit’ night out that I may have missed out on. And here I was, chatting up with someone the same age as me, no regrets or ‘FOMO’ whatsoever, living a life I’d only imagine for myself ten years later—something that never showed up on my social media feeds. “I really don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I’m happy being mum to my son Prish, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Pooja tells us, as she tries to pacify her li’l one while entertaining the many questions we throw at her, and she does it all with so much ease.

At first, it seems as though there must be some sort of instruction manual she’s sought out— after all, how much could a 20-something know about raising a baby and holding a family together? But this young mum happily tells us that she’s doing her own thing! I’m truly taken aback when she further goes on to say that she rarely ever takes advice from her own family members, but at the same time, I’m amazed at how headstrong she is, given the inherent judgement that came her way when she was pregnant.