So, the play is the story of Kalki and the actors on stage, but it is also the story of a majority of Indian women for whom childcare is primarily their responsibility, all the heavy-lifting they are expected to do and how the endless hours they devote to rearing the young is taken for granted.
In a scene that a majority of mothers would see their lives reflected in shows a young couple discuss how their day went when the man returns from work. He’s weary, but at least has a story to tell about his day.
And then he asks his wife how her day went. She opens her mouth to speak, and then mumbles: “I just looked after the baby.”
According to the latest government data reported in the Times of India, external, childcare and housework keep around 69% women out of the labour force in Indian cities – for men, it’s only 1%.
And mothers who choose to have careers have to work doubly hard, says Kalki.
“There’s so much pressure today because we’re told we’re very lucky to live in this age where we can work and be mothers and we can have it all. But at the same time, there’s this expectation to be some kind of a supermum. And we don’t get slack on the domestic front. We have to be the CEOs of the house at all times,” says Kalki.
Some of the pressure though, Kalki says, women put on themselves mostly because it’s expected of them to be good mothers.
“Many times I’ll be in the middle of a shoot and I’ll be calling my daughter’s nanny and organising her tiffin. I think it comes from this expectation to be the perfect mum.
“But I think allowing for the fathers or other family members to fill in that space is important. And we wanted to let women know that if we do that, everything isn’t going to fall apart. It’s okay to drop the ball and not feel like you are responsible for all of it.”
