| in Britney Spears' life move at the speed of greased | | | | obsession with losing weight? Her trainer was |
| lightning. No sooner had her husband Kevin Federline | | | | obviously non-plussed at how to explain the whole |
| revealed that she had regained her pre-pregnancy | | | | motherhood and maternal responsibility to her when |
| weight two weeks after the birth of their last son born | | | | the sole preoccupation she had in her life was losing |
| in September, than she announced their divorce for | | | | weight. Caring for another human being in the way we |
| 'irreconcilable reasons'. It appears only yesterday (and | | | | do as mothers is supposed to bring us close to both, |
| in fact it was the day before) when Kevin complained | | | | our inner strength, and our limitations. It completes a |
| about not being able to lose the 'sympathy weight' he | | | | significant phase in the development of our ego, giving |
| had put on during her pregnancy by eating extra junk | | | | us the humility and the self-acceptance we need to |
| food so she wouldn't feel bad about bloating up by | | | | become fully human. Parenting, whether it is as fathers |
| being pregnant. Kevin's intentions may have been | | | | or as mothers, is an important factor in self-esteem. |
| noble, but this was obviously not enough to protect him | | | | The kind of anxiety being felt by the lady in the gym |
| from the iron-clad provisions of Britney's pre-nuptial | | | | caused me genuine distress for a while. Didn't the fact |
| agreement, which protects her hard-earned money | | | | that she had produced a marvelous 'bundle of joy' |
| from his covetous gaze. Whatever Britney and Kevin's | | | | mean anything to the young woman? Why was her |
| story later turns out to be, a part of it is certainly about | | | | self-esteem so low as to sink several notches with |
| one of the most dangerous things we are acquiring in | | | | just a few more ounces of weight? Without meaning |
| the fascination with Western role models in today's | | | | to, I felt myself thinking of all the childless women and |
| globalized world. What Britney and Kevin are passing | | | | men who would gladly look a little less beautiful if they |
| on with the open discussion of their respective weights | | | | could instead have a child to hold in their arms. If |
| before and after having children, is a negative | | | | Britney has recovered her pre-pregnancy weight in |
| self-image that rests solely on body shape, or a | | | | two weeks, good for her. If Malaika Arora has a flat |
| dangerous body-image if you so prefer. A | | | | tummy in addition to a small and active son, great |
| conversation overheard between a woman in a gym | | | | news. No one denies these women their looks or |
| in Chennai and her personal trainer, to whom she was | | | | fame. What is sad is that in the glam-sham culture we |
| complaining about being a few pounds heavier than | | | | live in today, we seem to have forgotten other ideals |
| before the birth of her two month old baby, set me | | | | of femininity and motherhood. So while we rave about |
| thinking. Wasn't she breast feeding? What did a few | | | | 'Lage Raho Munnabhai's Mahatma Gandhi, isn't it time |
| pounds matter when it came to the question of a | | | | to ask ourselves, what about Kasturba? |
| baby? She looked and seemed pretty slim, so why the | | | | |