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A promising account

Mallika Chopra's "100 Promises To My Baby" tells how a mother can build a relationship with her unborn child

THE BOND Mallika says all parents should make promises to teach their children noble values

Medical science might have discovered it only recently, but for ages we know that the thoughts and emotions of a pregnant woman directly influence the development of the unborn baby. The Mahabharat tells us how Abhimanyu learnt to break the chakravyuh in his mother Subhadra's womb.

Bringing the idea alive is Mallika Chopra's "100 Promises To My Baby". Published by Roli Books, in the foreword, her father Deepak Chopra says if every mother could create a covenant with her baby, the whole world would be transformed. "Every terrorist was once a baby, and so was every saint... The world was never changed or transformed by politicians, or for that matter, by scientists. The mothers of the world hold the key to the healing of our wounded planet."

A mother of two daughters, Mallika recalls, "During my pregnancy I was inspired to make commitments to myself about how I could emulate what I had learned from my parents. My hope was to give Tara (one of her daughter), a childhood filled with wonder, magic, adventure and mystery. And I felt intuitively that the time to start was while she was still a part of me - I somehow knew she would be listening."

Personal experience

So she started to write down promises to herself and to her daughter. According to Mallika the promises were inspired by all the love and hope that she felt for Tara and by the anticipation of who she was going to become. "As I wrote, I realised that each promise was inspired by something that I myself had actually experienced or learned. I started to write down the stories, memories and lessons that I wanted to share with Tara as she grew up, as well as the values and intentions I myself needed to be reminded of as I faced the challenges of parenting."

Through this process, she realised that the bond between a parent and child is one of the most important bonds between two beings. "As parents, we have the ability to create global citizens who have the power to change the world. In a world that is often coloured by fear and violence, this role becomes all the more important. I feel if all parents make promises to teach their children love, respect, honour and acceptance, then we are playing our parts."

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