Your definition of ‘all’ is very different from my definition of ‘all’. In my mind, you already have it all – the cushy corner job, the supportive husband, the awards, the globe-trotting, the unlimited access to soda at all times (ok, scratch that – that comes with the job, right?) Ms. Nooyi, you very definitely have first-world problems, as they are so rightly demeaningly said.
Still, what you said feels so wrong on so many levels.
Simply because if you feel it this way, what hope do lesser mortals like we have? We , minions that we are, are running hustle and bustle and silently thinking that we will get there someday ? We are the ones who juggle mother, mother-in-law, maid and management. Heck, in your case, you are the management, isn’t it?
You know what? Having it all is firstly an extremely wrong premise – it’s actually quite a greedy premise. Remember old jungle saying ‘cannot eat cake and have it too’? We (man, woman, child, rat, animal, housefly) can only ever hope to have what we already have and better it. To have what is not yours is being greedy. Does that mean one should limit oneself to doing only what is comfortable and cozy and easy-peasy? Far from it, like your story itself proves, one pushes oneself to excellence and having reached that goal , attempts a higher rung. In the process , one grows and stops doing what one always did , one’s passions change, one’s habits alter. Sometimes, the self takes a second seat , sometimes the family, sometimes the profession. It does not mean that one does not have it all – it just means one’s definition of ‘all’ changes – and that’s really fine.
I am quite sure you have only told us the nasty bit of the story, but what a bit. Every time, I read that dumb story of your mother telling you to keep the crown in the garage, I cringe. What kind of mother does that? You have staff at beck and call, and your house still runs out of milk? Tsk-tsk, Ms. Nooyi , not done. If this is the way, you run your house, how the heck can you run Pepsico? If your husband chose to sit neat while you, oh so self-sacrificially , ran out to get milk, you could very well have been staying in the boondocks of our country, where women are subjected to such grave rubbish every moment, isn’t it? You say you otherwise work till midnight and come home leisurely , while your mother runs an efficient house for you? And you still grumble that you can’t have it all? You supposedly have / had a secretarial support staff who ran your daughter through a series of questions and then gave her Nintendo time….and you still grumble that you can’t have it all? And I can go on and on.
But I have work to do, food to cook , kids to feed , house to clean and so on and so on. I don’t have it all, I just have to do it all.
After running your story, over and over again in my mind, it suddenly dawned on me why you can’t have it all. It’s because, Goddamnit, your mother wants milk – when Pepsi it should have been. You should have told your mother , “Milk? Fuggedaboutit, Pepsi it is!”
I know, even strong girls many a times cannot stand up to their equally or more stronger –willed mothers. So from one girl to another, chill, Ms. Nooyi – don’t bother yourself too much about having it ‘all’, instead …..have a Coke or better still – a good old-fashioned Thumbs Up.