I’m still making sense of the mixed reactions to the viral video of the RPF constable patrolling one of the platforms of the New Delhi railway station with her child strapped in a carrier. It enrages me to see an image of a mother mothering projected across media, accessible to anyone to comment. And the responses are predictable, from the very first post by the authorities themselves parading her dedication in the face of choice-lessness as something virtuous to the subsequent accusations that invariably castigate her for putting her child in danger. The hypocrisy is alarming when you consider the reason why Reena was called to duty despite being on leave—the need for extra personnel for crowd control in the light of a recent stampede for which the Railways should be held directly accountable. How could they not have anticipated a stampede?

I read in one report that Reena dropped off her two older children at day care and carried her littlest one with her to work—a one-year-old. I felt for Reena because when my child was one, having him in the carrier for naps like that took its toll on my back. In my situation, I only did that while travelling, and that was a choice I made. On a regular basis, I was happy to have my child either sleep in a stroller, when on the go, or, preferably, on our bed. I am fortunate to be a work-from-home mom. A combination of previous hard work and pure chance allowed me to secure a freelancer contract that allows me flexible hours and the opportunity to work remotely for an organisation whose politics are in line with my own. It helps, because I live in a region where childcare is expensive and securing a spot in a day care involves a sizeable waiting list. For the first two years of our child’s life, I balanced working from home with all the heavy lifting that motherhood demands that is often imperceptible to the untrained eye…  from managing hunger and thirst to patrolling wake windows and watching for sleep cues during the day, not to mention being constantly on night watch, stirring the second you hear your child has woken from sleep, and, of course, those inevitable days and nights when your child is running a temperature or has some form of illness. Beyond the physical labour, there’s this intense emotional, psychological and intellectual load that you find yourself having to navigate because your body is irreplaceable, and because capitalism has successfully alienated us from support systems. If you don’t have a child, it’s easy to say, ‘leave them with a nanny or a day care’, but especially in India, where, just yesterday I read about the rape of a seven-month-old infant, trust is hard to come by. Infants and toddlers are the most vulnerable to abuse, particularly in a society where abuse and other forms of toxicities and brutalities are totally normalised. Add to this the fact that Reena is living in Delhi, a city with toxic air (I know, I lived there myself) that is unbreathable and beyond hazardous.