Ritu Sahni is a 50-year-old working woman. She is confident, competent and caring, just as any other modern woman. Though she has an MBA degree, she runs an interior design company. She is a mother. And she is a father.
15 years ago, Ritu lost her husband in a car accident on a family vacation in Johannesburg, South Africa, with their children. With the unfortunate turn of events, Ritu became a single parent overnight to her two daughters, all of 6 and 10. Soon, she took over her husband’s interior designing firm to keep the house running and to ensure her children’s financial security.
She says, “I come from an MBA background. I specialised in HR and worked as a recruitment consultant for many years before the demise of my husband. Taking over his firm was extremely difficult initially. I did not have knowledge of how to run the business. Plus, being a woman who has been through so much emotionally, I had to deal with all sorts of people- people who I couldn’t trust or rely on.” But Ritu soldiered on undeterred. “I took one step at a time. With a help of my husband’s close friend and associate, I learnt the ropes of the job and have been running it successfully for years now” she adds.
Although she is a one-woman army juggling between office and children, she says her family, especially her mother, would step in to lend a helping hand in times of need.
While talking about her journey as a single parent, Ritu shares a very endearing story, “My husband passed away on June 19, and more often than not, that date coincides with Father’s Day (second Saturday of June). My younger ones used to make me a card every Father’s Day, saying that I was both a mother and a father to them.”
She says she tries to give her daughters the holistic experience of a family. “We become a complete unit, the three of us. We would go on holidays so that the children didn’t feel that they were missing out on things that were happening in their lives while their father was alive. My relatives even tell me that I am spoiling my girls. However, I don’t want my children to think they don’t have a complete family,” she says.
Ritu does have her weak moments when she would end up crying and questioning her fate. She says, “I would see couples around me handling their children together and I would feel cheated. Questions like- why did God do such injustice to me? Why was I left alone to take care of my girls? - would cross my mind. But nothing matters, and you actually feel rewarded when you see your children grow up to become beautiful people. And now, the younger women of my family tell me how I am a role model to them for how I managed my life independently, boldly.” And that she is - a bold mom.
Life can throw a million challenges at you. But women like Ritu are testimony to the fact that you are stronger than your problems. You rise up and learn to be your best self. You be your best, no matter what happens. If you are bold, nothing precludes you from having everything in life.
(This story is part of #KohlerBoldStories - #KohlerBoldMoms, a Mother’s Day initiative by Kohler India and The Quint to celebrate the indomitable spirit of bold mums.)
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