2. Have I changed?

 "I need to catch on some sleep", I said to my mom, releasing the heavy bag from my hand at her doorstep.

"Hey! You got the driver this time. Didn't you sleep on the way here?", asked my younger sister. "Yes, I didn't drive. But how can you sleep when you travel?", I rolled up my eyes.

"Look who's talking", my sister laughed. "It was a 6 hours journey and you couldn't catch a nap? Don't act to avoid the chores, as soon as you step in", she gave a sly smile.

She was right, it was a 6 hours travel. But I genuinely couldn't catnap, not even for an hour or half.

"Hey, you two. Stop it. Don't promptly start squabbling now. Atleast say a proper hello, hi. Aren't you meeting after months? Come here baccha, give me a hug", my mom lovingly hugged me.

I stick out my tongue and tease my sister. She sticks her hands close to her temples, curls her fingers and teases back. Suddenly we both go back to the premarital era and giggle like lassies that we were.

"Remember how you used to doze off even in a Lal dabba (what we call the red State Transport buses, for obvious reasons)? You slept as soon as the bus gained some speed and the wind, through the broken glass of the windows, would gush in. You literally used to lean on my shoulders and I kept pushing you away. I always wondered how you could sleep soundly on that utterly uncomfortable seat?", said my sister, teasing me some more.

True! I could sleep anywhere, anytime. Be it a chair, a couch, a bus seat whose cushion has come off or even a wooden plank. But after getting pregnant, somehow this insecurity crept in. Little did I fall asleep during the travels, hubby used to remind me to sit upright and not lean and bounce here and there. And gradually, this sleeping habit, through the journeys, just evanesced. Later, when I had babies, they used to sleep in my lap. And now when they're grown up, they lean their heads over my shoulders and laps. Now, I am a conscious mom, who does a back seat driving (as my hubby calls it) too. And astonishingly, I cannot sleep on a flight also. However long it may be. Even though there's no driving there, that I can do. So, all in all, no sleep for me.

Have I changed? Yup, things change when you become a mother.

They say, being a mom means putting away your childish ways, to make room for your child's ways.

But somethings, fortunately, don't alter. Like, bickering with siblings, tight hugs from moms, doing whatever you want, once you are at your mom's place. And I am glad for that.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the second part of the series, for the theme -  'Then vs Now'. 

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