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Joys of Motherhood - Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda Vashisht was born in the beautiful valley of Kashmir, India when Kashmir was known for its unparalleled natural beauty and not as a cauldron of fear and terror. She did most of her schooling in Delhi and dabbled with several professions before moving to U.S last year. she is currently pursuing higher studies here. she likes to introduce herself as an explorer because she wants to spend all her time in this world exploring unknown. Writing for her is a cathartic experience. She can't remember when she began writing first but she does know that writing has always helped her to be at peace with herself and with the world around her.

After a brief hiatus it feels good to be back on SAWF.

While the world was trying to get a consensus on whether to attack Iraq or not, while the hatred and fear were the overwhelming emotions around the world my world was lit by a beautiful smile reminding me of a beautiful place the world around is. The miniature human being who reminded me that world should be full of love and care was my daughter, Meera, who was born on feb 6.

I was still undergoing surgical procedure when the nurse put her in my hands. I looked at the little person in my hands and she looked back at me, eyes wide awake. Suddenly the reality struck me. She is our baby; I seemed to be telling my husband who was standing next to me completely overwhelmed by what was going around him. However, he managed to look at me for a brief moment with the look that told me "Here is an extension of two of us, She is us put together".

I had never realized this but Meera made it so easy for me to understand that our children are future citizens of this earth, and we cannot leave them a world that is full of hatred and suspicions. With the war clouds looming large over the world I feel lucky that I can hold my child and sing a lullaby to her and put her to sleep in my house. As I do that my thoughts wander and I think about some mother who must be trying to put her child to sleep in Kashmir, Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan. While she puts her child to sleep she doesn’t know if her child will see the dawn of the coming day. I feel lucky that I am not at these places but what prevents my peaceful haven from becoming another Kashmir or Iraq tomorrow. The terror has spread tentacles every where. As a mother my heart bleeds for every mother whose child becomes a victim of terror. As a mother I express solidarity with all the mothers who want the world to become war free and terror free. We owe it to our children b ecause the world doesn’t belong to us. We are merely living here and we will pass it on to our future generations.

My daughter reminds me every day that happiness lies in small things and contentment is easy to find if we learn to be thankful to God for all the little blessings that He showers on us every day.

Till we connect again...

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