A fight erupted between biwi and me last evening when biwi uploaded a look on Instagram; I didn’t like it! I felt that Rati could have done much better. And I exploded. “What kind of a look is this""” Biwi was not happy to see her work being criticized to bits like this, especially by me, who normally likes all her makeup looks. But I’m scathing and unsparing when I’m angry, one of my many shortcomings. ‘Why are you producing such mediocre work"’ I shouted.

Rati started crying, and then deleted the makeup post. I suddenly felt really sorry for what I had said. And I felt really guilty for being so unkind. So I went to my wife, held her hands and asked, “what’s happening"” My wife told me something that has been on her mind for long. “I am not able to focus on my work since Sia was born. I am always worried about her.” And suddenly I understood. Although we have a full-time maid to take care of Sia, and CCTV all across our house, my wife is always worried about the maid being alone with Sia. She would either keep checking the CCTV footage on her mobile while doing makeup looks or go check on the maid herself.
And I think I understood the difference between a mother and father for the first time. A father can never be a mother, never understand what it means to be a mother, or can even act like a mother even if he understands. Fathers leave most of the responsibility of children on mo...