Mother's Day Special: How region’s top cops, IAS officer strike a balance between work and motherhood
Monica Chauhan
Chandigarh, May 12
Balancing a tough job with a mother’s duty isn’t easy, but some women police officers perform well in both fields due to their grit and determination. On Mother’s Day, The Tribune tries to look into the lives of top women police officers and find out how they have been coping with the twin challenges.
Gurpreet Kaur Deo, Punjab DGP
Gurpreet Kaur Deo, the first woman IPS officer in Punjab to attain the rank of Director General of Police, says, “I was fortunate to have family support of both parents and parents-in-law in the upbringing of my son. Therefore, I never faced any problem in ensuring his wellbeing. However, in the daily routine, I myself attend to him and spend time with him for getting homework done and preparing him for class tests.”
A 1993-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, Deo says that in her view, more important than the actual time one spends with the child is the value system that is communicated to the younger one. “The children of women police officers get to understand at an early age that their mother has to be out at add hours for work, but she is going to be there whenever he or she needs her,” she says. The DGP’s advice to other women police officers who are planning kids is to “start early so that it does not interfere in their job during their stint as SSP”. “That done, things will be easier for them,” she says.
Satwant Atwal Trivedi, Himachal Pradesh DGP
Satwant Atwal Trivedi, the first woman officer to hold the charge of DGP in Himachal, says it has not been that easy. “More than anyone else, lots of your relatives want to see you fail. But motherhood is a choice, so is the career,” avers the 1996 batch IPS officer of the Himachal cadre.
Whether the thought of taking long leave or even quitting the job to bring up the kids ever crossed her mind, Trivedi says when she headed the Border Security Force’s intelligence directorate, her son was 15. “Not exactly… For the first time, he saw his mother in uniform. I could see the pride in his eyes. And when you see your children respecting you, it feels the job is worth it,” she says.
Kanwardeep Kaur, Chandigarh SSP
Chandigarh SSP Kanwardeep Kaur says she tries her best to strike a balance between her work and home to give quality time to her five-year-old son. With her mother’s support, she says, her son is getting used to it. “He plays golf…but stays awake till I reach home. The real struggle is holidays or when his school is off and I have to leave home for work,” says Kaur, an IPS officer of the 2013 batch.
Saumya Mishra, Ferozepur SSP
Ferozepur SSP Saumya Mishra says it’s out of guilt that she perhaps ends up doing more for her three-year-old daughter than what regular mothers do. Having her roots in Lucknow, it’s more challenging for her in Punjab with no family and relatives around.
“Having to manage my daughter with me not ever being able to get her ready for school makes me feel miserable at times. So, I have made it mandatory to spend one hour every week in her school so that I get to understand my child better and make up for the bond which I always wanted to have with her,” says Mishra.
Amrit Singh, IAS officer, Punjab
IAS officer Amrit Singh, the Director of Higher Education in Punjab, wished she could give more time to her daughter. She says there are both negative and positive aspects to being a working mother. “The negative is we lose out on quality time while our kids grow, and positive is that they grow up to be more responsible, confident and learn work ethics.” Her parents are around to take care of her three-year-old child, but she still tries to sync her work schedule with her daughter’s world.
