Konsam Sarika
BIO
Research scientist in genetics and plant breeder at ICAR RC NEHR Manipur Centre (India). Mother of twin girls.
Instagram: @sarikakonsam
Twitter: @konsam_sarika
Konsam Sarika
“The struggle to balance personal life with career is soul breaking at times.”
I am a scientist, geneticist, plant breeder and a mother of twins, Mitsna and Meehen, from India. They entered our life in the fifth year of our marriage through IVF. As demanding as my profession is, the expectation of being a daughter-in-law is also no lesser.
Belonging to a culture where a daughter-in-law is expected to do all the household chores and serve in-laws regardless of one’s 9-to-5 job; being bombarded with emails from my boss just after a couple days of my C-section delivery, and dealing with inconsiderate colleagues during the maternity leave, were no lesser than a herculean task.
The struggle to balance personal life with career is soul breaking at times.
I always dreamt of an educational exposure abroad. I was offered the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship 2011 for pursuing my Masters in the UK which unfortunately I didn’t pursue. In 2019, I got the prestigious Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship in the USA for one year. It was a “now or never” opportunity and thus an extremely delicate decision to make with our twins. Now that my husband is away for four or five days a week with his duty as a surgeon in another district, it was even more difficult for us to decide. But fortunately, with a maternal aunt as a super nanny and other two full time nannies (and also not to forget two in-house security cameras in the residential quarter), we are trying our best to get through this phase.
My twins were just ten and half months old when I flew halfway across the world to California. Now I spend every night looking at them through the camera, playing and running around.
They love to listen to me singing “Can't Help Falling in Love” and “All I Want” as I see them swaying their heads while sitting still.
Initially I thought it would be easier as the time passed, but it is the reverse, and the omicron variant is crushing my hope to visit them sooner. A day hasn’t passed by when I don’t yearn to hold my babies. I always imagine every night how it would feel to cuddle them in my arms. Sometimes I break down, other times I whimper. It is heart wrenching to know there is another seven and half months to go with them so far away! Each moment tortures me, but I am determined to push through this one year with courage!
PS: I am never leaving you again, mama ge Sana and Henba, I promise.