Born via heart or belly!

Since I became an independent adult, marrying a prince charming and living happily ever after in a beautiful house with our own kids, were never my thought process. I always dreamed of leading a peaceful life on my own somewhere out of India in the countryside adopting a baby and a shelter dog, specifically. May be born differently, a woman who does not believe in giving birth to her own child to feel a connection with. Neither do I think that we do any favour to the child by adopting. Though it is surely a noble act, it is for our own needs for companionship, we choose to do so.

Recently, one of my friends adopted a baby girl. Being an absolute independent woman with a strong career, finance, and a lovingly supportive family, her dream has been to adopt two baby girls in her lifetime. I just cannot stop applauding her, for the courage she has shown to go against the typical mindset of our society and adopt instead. Seeing the proud mother and child together, not for a second I felt she is not born out of her belly. The baby girl has adopted the whole family gracefully as if she was the chosen one to change the destiny of this house.

Mostly, the moment one declares to have adopted a baby, the immediate reaction from the other end is – “Kyun kuchh problem tha kya bachhe hone main? (Why would they go for adoption? Was there a problem having their own children?

Why can’t a couple or even an individual in mint health condition decide to go for adoption? Will it make them any less of a parent if they do not go through the time taking, expensive and grueling process of pregnancy; which takes a toll on women’s health and causes hormone imbalance in many cases? The best part of adoption is, women can do that at any age and not bother about the biological clocks ticking and sacrifice careers in the early stages of life to raise a family. Not that am demeaning the joy of motherhood here, which can be well attained depending on how pure is your heart to accept an innocent child.

Unfortunately, the trend in India around adoption has been mostly like that, couples who cannot conceive their own child even after trying all unnatural processes, finally give up and decide to adopt.

I remember another wonderful colleague from my workplace, who had her biological son when the couple decided to adopt a baby girl. This proves that a woman does not need to be infertile to think about adoption. In earlier days, couples used to only adopt within the family ensuring they are bringing a child of the pure bloodline. A child is so innocent that it just needs your love and decent care to follow in your footsteps. Moreover, if we all claim to be true patriots of this country with exploding population, then each eligible couple would first think of adoption than having their own child, being concerned about the future of the country and the limited resources we are devouring. I have also come across cases of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, who are struggling to adopt a child for many years, moreover, a single man cannot adopt a girl child. There has been a recent article on how long and stressful is the adoption process in India.

Having a soft corner for the dogs, I would even love the stray dogs and do not have any special attention for the so-called breeder sold fancy dogs with a large price tag. I strongly believe that people or animals, who have seen hardship in real life are mostly the well-behaved ones and they do not take others for granted or throw tantrums around. We have an adopted Indie dog in our apartment who is the most well-behaved and non-harmful happy dog around. My love for dogs is inherited from my father, who would bring home terminally ill dogs that would be roaming the streets counting their days to death. He would personally take care of transforming their body and mind to give away for adoption; so that the dog can lead the respectful short life that they are given.

It’s so saddening to see in current days, most people for show-off, buy expensive breed dogs sold unethically by the breeders. Most of these dogs are unsuitable for Indian climatic conditions and few people even abandon them on the streets later realizing how expensive the dogs are to maintain or when shifting to another country. There are so many awesome Indian breed dogs as well if one has any interest to find out. Few countries have specifically started putting a ban on breeding dogs.

Love truly and give a living being a home, who deserves it the most and in return, you will receive their heart and soul forever!