My self Geeta Sridhar gets up at 4 a.m. in the morning and cooks delicious, 5 course lunch for my family consisting of 2 daughters ( a gold-medalist Engineer- Dekshita and a medical student Sharda ) and husband ( a bank manager Mr. Shridhar ) early in the morning, every day.
IAM A PROUD MOTHER AND I ALWAYS ENJOY THE LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY TILL MY DEATH
I WANT TO EXPRESS MY JOY AND EXPERIENCE WITH YOU ALL, THANKS @BRIL FOR GIVING ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS MY REAL STORY IN BLOGTHON FOR MOMMY BLOGGERS
Balancing Work & Home to Perfection
TAKING CARE OF MY FAMILY AND TAKING OF MY 28 CANCER KIDS MAKES ME TO SHARE TO YOU ALL HOW I ENJOY MOTHERHOOD AS A GEETU MAA
“My father passed away completely out of the blue — one day he was fine and the next day he was diagnosed with 4th stage cancer. He was in excruciating pain, but before he passed away he told me ‘take all of my property and put it to good use.’
A few weeks after his death, I resumed working at the school in Sion where I had worked for many years…but everyday, I only thought of ways to do something for cancer patients. About 2 months later I met a doctor from Pune who told me that there was a hospital in Pune, where little orphaned children were suffering from various stages in cancer, but were not given the right treatment because of the lack of resources. I adopted all 28 of these children and took each one of them as my own. I moved them to our plot in Wadala, where they are now cared for and looked after by a doctor 24 hours a day.
When I first met them, many of them were not expected to live beyond a few days…but now 7 years later most of them are still alive, healthy and happy. I’ve had a lot of volunteers who teach my children and people with large hearts who have donated heavily to our school. Because they’re prone to infections, I myself am not allowed to visit them except on Sunday… but that is the day I cook for them and feed them with my own hands.
I continue to work at my school in Sion, but my colleagues and principal have been extremely supportive. In fact, I am allowed to leave 2 periods early to attend to the needs of my other children…there are beautiful people in this world who have always come forward to help. That is the only way I can make sure I attend the chemo sessions of each and every one of these children…I never want them to feel alone in the hospital.
But by far the best feeling in the world is to cook for my children…they appreciate every little thing. Just the other day one of my girls wanted to eat chakris…so when I made some and fed it to them on Sunday, that little girl said to me, ‘Geetuma your cooking is world best!’ Like all mothers, my heart melts when they call me Geetu'ma' and more so when they like my food…what more can I ask for?”
THIS IS MY REAL STORY AND AS A MOTHER AT HOME AND I BALANCE TO SACRIFICE TO TAKE CARE OF ANOTHER HOME WITH PERFECTION
BALANCING AT HOME AND AT WORK IS A MULTI TASK FOR ME BUT I DO WITH FULL OF HAPPINESS
ITS MEE...
Geeta Sridhar, a primary school teacher took in 28 special children ailing with cancer into her home. What she did next will warm your heart. BALANCING SAME TIME FAMILY AND WORK TEACHED ME HOW TO LIVE THE LIFE WITH FULL PERFECTION
I think I may have spent an afternoon with the Jawaharlal Nehru of our time. MY FRIEND WAS TELLING ABOUT ME TO ALL ....
WOW I FELT HAPPY TO BE A MOTHER THAT TOO MOTHER OF 28 CANCER KIDS WHAT ELSE YOU NEED IN THIS LIFE APART FROM THIS..
I HAVE two beautiful young daughters -- one an engineer and the other studying to be a doctor -- who she raised to become as golden-hearted and kind as she is.
Back in the Sion school where IAM a primary teacher, at the beginning of every academic year, the notorious little seniors meet their anxious juniors and ask them to hope and pray that they get Geetu Teacher as their class teacher.
But the bunch of children, who have perhaps best felt the light of her aura, are the 28 formerly orphaned children, all battling with various stages of cancer, for all of whom, besides from being Geetuma, IAM Maa.
There is one awe-inspiring and another heart-breaking tale behind what led ME to take these children under MY wings,
"One day my daughter placed a condition; she would only have her curd rice, in return for a promise from us.
"I told her I'm not buying her video games or dolls or any such nonsensical fads.
"She assured me that what she was going to ask of us was not materialistic.
"I protested but my husband agreed -- soon, I realised that she was throwing this tantrum only because she knew she was asking for something perhaps more tricky than anything monetary,"
MY daughter Charu, eight years old, said she wanted to completely shave off the long thick hair that is the pride and identity of south Indians.
"Charu had beautiful locks that fell right to her knees. You know, the kind that always landed her the devi and Bharat Mata roles in every school play. But we had to relent, for we had made her a promise, after all.
"The next day, when she went to school, she ran towards her friend Harish.
"Harish's mom, in turn, came to me and started hugging and kissing me, while crying profusely, saying 'you have a priceless angel with you'."
Soon, I discovered that Harish was undergoing chemotherapy due to which he was losing his hair, but the students in school were making fun of his baldness, and so nastily that he had stopped going to school.
'My Charu, the class-monitor, told his mother, 'You bring him to school next Monday onwards, I will solve his problem',"
"I was thinking, if my daughter can do something so immense and selfless, why couldn't I?"
But within a week, I HAVE to fly to Chennai after a heartbreaking phone call.
MY father -- a completely fit, healthy and soft-hearted man who never even hurt a fly -- had been diagnosed with cancer, and was on its very last stage.
"Within a week, our life fell apart; as we saw him struggle with chemo and not be able to cope with it. Before he breathed his last, he told me, take all my property and please put it to good use."
'Make Charu a doctor,' he'd said.
I ended up keeping word on both counts.
I started thinking of everything I could do with all the resources I had at hand.
Two houses in Mumbai suburbs, and the strong connections of MY husband, who was the secretary of the Shanmughananda Hall in Sion, Mumbai.
"My pillar of support, he asked me to follow my heart and do whatever I felt was right and needed, and that he will do everything in his capacity to help me out."
Through his connections, I met a doctor who directed her to an orphanage in Pune.
Amongst their children were some little ones, between two and five years old, who were ailing from various stages of cancer, but were not getting the intensive care, and most importantly, love and attention that one needs to cope with it.
"I took them in, each one of them, as my own," , of the 28 children who CAME back with ME to Mumbai, to a new home, and the mother LIKE ME they never had.
Many of them were counting days, when I first met them, and against all odds, it is almost six years later, and they have now successfully cheated death and are leading happy lives.
Maybe it was this closet chef's food, maybe the activities, maybe the special professional care I had arranged for them, or maybe, it was the healing power of MY unconditional love.
Since the condition of the children is such that it will worsen even if they come in contact with somebody having a cold, the home is closed to visitors. Instead, a doctor is 24x7 with them treating and observing them.
The children are also taken to the Tata Memorial Hospital for regular check-ups and therapy.
The home runs smoothly on goodwill and the strong network of well-wishers, in the form of MY friends and family, who never hold back from donating everything -- right from clothes, to blankets, to toys, and televisions.
With all this generosity coming their way, the children have had happy childhoods with the quality of life they deserve.
Sunday is a special day that everyone eagerly looks forward to at the edges of their seats, for that is when IAM permitted to visit them and shower MY love on the blessed ones.
"Everytime they call me Geetuma, I fly in the sky. It still brings tears of happiness to my eyes."
What is equally looked forward to is this Masterchef's food. It is a hobby that she has nurtured all through her life, and everybody who knows now gets to reap the benefits, for MY food is heaven on a plate!
Fun fact: I even applied to Masterchef's fourth edition, and almost made it through!
Juggling a job, two young teenage girls and 28 other sons and daughters could not have been possible without the support of MY school.
"My principal allowed me to leave two periods early so I could give my time to my other children. And the best part was, my colleagues never spoke behind my back that I leave early so often -- everybody knew what my intentions were and efforts were, in fact, they all volunteered to help me with my teacher errands -- like filling the registers, or minding my class when I was gone. They were all so encouraging. I would break down very often after meeting my children, or getting overwhelmed with work pressure, but they were always there to wipe my tears, ask me to be strong, and offer to help in every way possible.
BALANCING WORK AND HOME TO PERFECTION MADE ME A SUPER MOM AND MADE ME A PROUD MOTHER BY GETTING AWARDS FROM MANY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS ..
MY ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN MANY MAGAZINES AND PAPERS
I think with motherhood and child-rearing in general, everyone's going to tell you how to do it and why. I've always said to other mothers and women when they've asked me, that you have to find your own way and find out what works for your family, at all costs.
I'm human, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes
all the time, but I guess my job is to keep
those mistakes to myself, which I'm already
fine doing and just try to be the best I can be
for those kids.
MY HOME MY WORK BALANACING TOGETHER GEETU MAA HOME
this was the story created by my cancer kids, i got tears in my eyes, thanks to #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate for giving me an opportunity to share my magical story created by my cancer kids... they all together said colgate smile geeta maa, ihugged them and kissed them with my beautiful smile full of 32 sparkling teeth .......thanks to colgate for keeping my smile fresh and hygienic...
