HYDERABAD: Former Miss Universe and actor Sushmita Sen adopted a girl when she was 24, thus becoming an example for thousands of single Indian women who wanted to become mothers. The 43-year-old mother-of-two was recently in the city attending a programme by Young Ficci Ladies Organisation. Before she started her talk on ‘Understanding Abortion’, she gave her views on motherhood, not finding the right man at the right time, and Hyderabad. “Hydrabad is my Janmastan,” she began, adding, “I was born here. Coming here always feels like coming home. I have a room here in Filmnagar that’s named Sush,” said the gorgeous actor who was wearing a pale yellow dress.
Explaining the beauty of adoption, she said: “A biological mother and her child are connected through an umbilical chord, but a mother and her adopted child are connected by a higher power.” However, the journey was fraught with struggles. She said: “The process of adoption in our country is very complicated. Documents, orientation and many such things make it very difficult for people to adopt. I appeal to authorities to make adoption less tedious. I fought a legal battle of 10 years to be able to adopt my second daughter, Alisa, because Indian laws don’t allow adoption of another girl after a girl. I challenged this along with like-minded people and changed the law.”
When asked what made her make such an unconventional decision at the peak of her movie career, the actor says, “The decision to adopt a child was a culmination of a lot of things. Being crowned Miss Universe when I was 18 years old opened up my world. Before that, I was a regular girl worrying about college admissions. Winning the title also took to various orphanages around the world, and that is when I felt a strong connection with children. Sometimes, children from the orphanages would ask me to take them home, and that made me think. I started wondering what the use of all my fame was if I could not give one of those children a home?”
Disagreeing that adoption was the highest form of altruism, Sushmita said, “Adoption was not an act for charity for me. It stabilised a lot of things in my life. It was an act of self preservation. However, I am proud of the fact that I stuck to my true calling at the peak of my career. I wanted to be a mother, but I was not particular about giving birth.”
When asked why she chose to go the less trodden path when giving birth is said to be one of the biggest blessings for women, the actor said: “Yes, a couple is truly blessed when they can have a child, but there are bigger blessings than that. I believe that our lives are our biggest blessings. Also, I did not find the right man at the right time to have children with.”
What about Rohman Shawl then, her boyfriend, who was also present with her? “He came too late,” said the Filhaal actor, and added “After bringing up two children, I do not think I want to go through the whole process again, but you never know what the future has in store for us.”
— Kakoli Mukherjee
kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com
@KakoliMukherje2