‘I always wanted to be active during pregnancy’
Talking about her current mental state, Masaba says, “I have internalised the huge change in my daily life. It took me about two-three months to absorb it. I have never felt so settled before.”
The baby is expected to be born next month in October. The 34-year-old admitted that her daily routine is “the same as before I was pregnant”. She starts her day with prayer or meditation, followed by a workout or yoga class. “I’m spending a lot more time with my mom (Neena Guptaactress) and my husband (satyadeep mishra) I’m spending a lot more time on my own, which is amazing. I’m suddenly in this state of sorting out cupboards and furniture. I’m just physically preparing the space for what’s to come,” Masaba told IANS. “I always wanted to stay active during my pregnancy and so, I asked my doctors what I should and shouldn’t do.”
The designer looks stunning in a nude dress, which she wore for her baby shower.
‘I’m a big fan of parenting in the past’
Ask Masaba if she feels the pressure to be a perfect parent in the future and she replies, “Not at all. I don’t know what kind of parent I will be, but one thing I know very clearly is that I will not take the advice of 20 people. When people give me advice I tell them to back off.
I don’t like to take unsolicited advice because I don’t need it. Of course, there will be a support group of people from different walks of life whom I admire. I am a big admirer of the way people have raised children in the past.”
She adds, “I want to be an active parent like my mom because she has done a lot on her own. I will be perfect in some areas; I will be imperfect in some areas and I will learn something new every day. Kids are very resilient. I also don’t want to put any pressure on my mom and ask her to be around the kid because she has her own life.”
‘We both have to learn to move forward in the best and worst of situations’
Talking about her husband Satyadeep’s life, she says, “Sattu comes from another planet (laughs). He has a very different outlook on life. He also had a different upbringing as his parents are civil servants, and they travelled a lot. What we both have in common is that we both believe that we have to learn to adapt to the best and worst of situations.”
‘There is no document proving my mother was pregnant’
Masaba’s mother Neena Gupta is often seen as the perfect modern mother. Ask her about the tips she got from her mother and she replies, “We were just talking the other day about how there were no pictures or documentation of her pregnancy on the internet. She had to hide her pregnancy. She was telling me how she even did a dance number in her eighth or ninth month. I asked her if she was nervous, because she had to hide the entire pregnancy. She said, ‘I didn’t have money to give you protein. I didn’t have money to be on any diet or nutrition plan. But I was so happy to have a baby.’ The only thing she told me is, ‘A child can be born and brought up very well and become anything you imagine or aspire to be a child from the pavement and mansion. She always reminds me that in this country children are born on pavements and they turn out to be okay, so I should make maximum use of the resources available to me and not expect my child to become great.’
‘Women look good when they’re pregnant’
Masaba’s decision – unlike her mother’s – to step into the public eye and flaunt her belly, was not premeditated. “I don’t think I planned too much. I was very happy to be pregnant and to be a healthy pregnant person. For the first time I wasn’t at war with my body. I’m someone who cares a lot about how I look and my fitness level. I was very happy to have gained weight, to have a healthy belly and to look fuller. I just wanted to live every experience the same way I did when I wasn’t pregnant. I didn’t want to hide it from anyone. Women look good when they’re pregnant. They look very healthy. There’s an inherent happiness, and you have to celebrate it with the world,” she elaborates.
Masaba adds, “I was very inspired by Kareena (Kapoor Khan, actress) because she would go out and about. She would work, eat food, have lunch and live like a normal pregnant woman. Even Alia (Bhatt, actress). She had to promote a film; she promoted a film. It was no big deal. We make a big issue out of it. You should just celebrate pregnancy.”
