I Used A Surrogate.And I Am So Grateful And Proud.

Rupali Tewari, a senior journalist, opens up about why she opted for surrogacy, the joy the choice has brought to her and why she is saddened by the recently proposed surrogacy bill.

- Rupali Tewari

 In my 20-year-long career as a TV journalist, I’ve enjoyed a few days in the sun, days when a story or show that I did made a difference in someone’s life, moments that gave me a general sense of achievement. In my earlier avatar as a basketball player, I derived the same gratification while playing and leading my state team at the national level. My Everest moment was when I successfully finished my first- ever full marathon as a 30-year-old.

But take all my life’s accomplishments, multiply them several fold and that’s how I felt when I held my firstborn for the first time. Till date, the biggest achievement of my life remains being a mother to a five- month-old. I’ll hazard a guess: Most moms would agree.

Jayshree Wad (the lawyer who first filed a petition against commercial surrogacy) and Sushma Swaraj (head of the Group of Ministers who finalised the surrogacy bill) are mothers too—proud mothers like me is a safe assumption. Though unlike me, they had the gift of bearing their own child. I, on the other hand, had to take the help of a surrogate. For that, I shall always remain envious of them.

As a young professional, I put marriage and kids on the back-burner (perils of working in the competitive and very demanding environment of TV journalism). I married at 35, and when—at 37 years of age—my husband and I decided to start a family, most doctors told us, I had missed the proverbial bus.