If it appears that Lisa Haydon Lalvani is segueing into motherhood without any of the doubts and fears that append the modern career woman, it’s because this has been as much a lifelong dream of hers as anything else. “I always wanted to be a mum. I fantasised about it,” she says. “The way my mother raised us eight children was my ideal scenario. We were a big family, and family was always important and fulfilling. You get tired of thinking about yourself all the time, you know.”
The fact is Lisa, like every other woman, wants it all and wants it on her time. She says she’s pumped to get back to work as soon as it’s possible, but she won’t do it from the fear of a career lapse. “In India, if you get married, let alone have a baby, it’s assumed you’re not that interested in work. Lisa ‘settled down’, they’ll say. What a labelling, binding term. Nothing could be further from the truth. We no longer live in a world where you need to choose one or the other, and I’m not going to allow myself to be pushed to choose.”
For now, homemaking is a full-time job. “It can feel like a rabbit hole,” she admits. “One day, you’re baking your own bread. Next, you’re thinking of growing your own vegetables, and I can only imagine what having a baby as well will be like. This time, right now, is the calm before it all changes.”
Mum-to-be Lisa Haydon Lalvani in the season’s hottest swimwear
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An excerpt from the interview featured in ELLE India’s May 2017 issue. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and the digital version.
