A Young Mother Speaks: To Quit Your Job To Startup

Question: If I’m not mistaken, you were a working professional, a master’s holder with a good career ahead of her.

Are you glad that life has let you start your own business rather than be a corporate professional?

And she said:

I am Harini Sivakumar and I hail from the southern city of Chennai. After getting my MBA in retail management, I was so keen to take up a corporate career like any normal person would be, right? I managed to piece together a rather cushy life as a banker with an international bank based in Chennai.

Life changed after the birth of my son. He was born with Down syndrome. The requirements of a child with exceptional needs are such that I had to be a stay at home parent, I had no choice, I had to. Before fully accepting the circumstances, I did go through that phase of life where my emotions ricocheted from denial, anger to frustration. And there is no doubt that it was very tough. I was just 23 when my son was born. I tried hard to get back to my corporate career and even took up some temporary jobs but nothing worked because our country is nowhere near disability-friendly.

I was shocked to know that even many doctors did not understand what Down syndrome meant. It was hard to leave behind a child with a bunch of people who did not know how to care for him. That was the toughest phase of my life. My mind was in a state of perpetual chaos. It was the ultimate conundrum for the modern educated woman: Do I choose my career or my child?

I chose the latter, I quit my cushy MNC banker’s job.

But I never regretted it nor did I take that as an excuse to stay idle. I was working hard to equip myself for my son’s needs since there was hardly any service available for a parent like me. I enrolled for a masters in special education. I always felt that having my son was just the same as, well, having any other son. The only difference was, in a world where every parent is running and trying hard to push their child to be the number 1, I was a relaxed mother who took the scenic route and was going very slow. In the end, we all want to be recognized as successful parents, but I like to think that I took the longer and more beautiful route.

Even now, I make time for myself so that I feel good about this life I have been blessed to receive. I am a fitness enthusiast and an avid cyclist. I take part in all the brevets (a long-distance cycling event) happening in Delhi NCR and lead a happy, healthy life. I don’t have reasons to crib (smiley face).

I don’t feel bad anymore about my corporate career where I would be just working 9 to 9 with no time for myself or my family. Everything happens for a reason and all that happens, happens for the good. I believe that I have the best possible life today and so glad for all that happened in my life.