A sharp realization

I didn’t expect this shift to change me as a mother.

But it did.

Life in Indore has its own rhythm now.

Mornings begin early.

By 8, they’re out the door.

And before that—

breakfast, tiffins, small rushes, small instructions.

The kind of busy that doesn’t let you pause.

Then suddenly… the house is quiet.

They come back at 4.

By 4:30, they’re out again—

cricket, friends, a world that doesn’t include me in that moment.

Back by 6:15.

Freshen up.

Dinner.

Studies.

A little TV.

And before I fully register the day—

it’s bedtime.

Somewhere in between all of this,

it hit me.

I spend less than 30 minutes a day with them.

Not even 30 minutes!

And something about that

didn’t leave me.

Not guilt.

Just… a quiet, uncomfortable knowing.

How quickly this is moving.

How easily it can pass

while I’m busy getting through the day.

I’ve started noticing a shift.

I talk to them more now.

Less instructions.

More conversations.

Less “finish this.”

More “what happened today?”

Because suddenly,

those few minutes feel… important.

Like they’re not just moments.

They’re all I really have.

Because when time feels limited,

you stop using it to manage.

You start using it to meet them.

And the more I sit with them—

even in those small windows— the more I see them.

How observant they are.

How they pick up things I haven’t said.

How they read people, spaces, moods—

almost instinctively.

Sometimes, it feels like they know too much.

And then I remember—

they’ve lived through more

than children their age should have to.

And still…

they return to being children.

They laugh.

They play.

They fight over the smallest things.

They are still… little.

And that does something to me.

There are moments now—

quiet, almost passing—

when I’m just watching them

and a thought comes—

bas thoda sa aur waqt de do…

Not for anything big.

Just… this.

To sit with them a little longer.

To not rush through these years

like they’re endless.

Because somewhere,

it’s already slipping.

And maybe this is something we all sense

but don’t always stop to feel—

how much of this time

is already behind us

before we realise it.

And how easy it is

to stay busy on the surface,

while something deeper

quietly waits for our attention.

It’s not too late though.

To pause.

To sit closer.

To create something softer

in the middle of all this routine.

And I ask Laddu Radha, please let me love them a little more, before they are little no more.