Rochelle Rao: 'Men in our culture have not been taught to celebrate pregnancy and motherhood' | Mother's Day Exclusive

Rochelle Rao and Keith Sequeira with their daughter Josephine Pic/Instagram

New parents on the block Rochelle Rao and Keith Sequeira invited mid-day.com for a cleanup drive at Mumbai's Juhu beach, where their 6-month-old daughter Josephine also tagged along. Rochelle asserted that it was the best way to celebrate Mother's Day since the seashore holds an extremely sentimental value to them. The duo not only got married at the beach but also had a stunning maternity shoot before welcoming their baby girl. The couple talks us through their journey to becoming parents and raising their child to be environmentally conscious.

Rochelle and Keith arrived with Josephine at 7 am to be a part of the cleanup drive. The doting parents said that although their little one was a sleepy head they decided to bring her along to support EcoRevive - the group that led the initiative. "We wanted to introduce her at a very early age to what it means to be aware of your environment and sort of inculcate it. It's not a serious thing. It's just like fun, but it's a very serious issue. All of these issues, when you have a child, become way more real to you because you're like, ‘What is the world that I have brought my child into?' And ‘What is she going to have left?'" says Rochelle.

Rochelle and Keith also revealed that EcoRevive commenced its journey in the same month Josephine was born - October and the day she came into this world a tree was planted in her name in Kerala. "We want her also to just make it a habit of taking care of the planet," shares the couple.

Rochelle, who revealed her pregnancy in 2023 recalls that although she tried to hide it from her husband for a big reveal, he already knew for the fact of how aware he is. On being asked what gave away, Keith answered, "We were keen and were on the path to put it certificate, but I have a sense and know, there's a radiance that comes on when you know something really precious like this is happening in your life."

Despite being overjoyed they were equally scared of what the future had in store. Keith admits that the initial part is confusing because your brain is just processing this information along with the incoming barrage of responsibilities but eventually one does settle since life has its way of taking care of things. "God's always there with you and you just have to trust the process."

Rochelle states that no pregnancy is a cakewalk since people don't realise how worried a woman is as a mother the whole time. "Anything can go wrong. Are you eating right? Half the time you're sick, so you're not eating right, but then you're guilty that you're not eating right. So it's a lot of emotions. But I must say that I've heard about other people's journeys and I think God was really kind to us and overall we had quite a smooth journey," she says.

The former Miss India does mention that she gorged on a lot of peanut butter as a part of her cravings. Adding to that Keith says, "It's strange how women's tastes and everything else, the hormones play up so much. All men need to realise that you're going to see different shades of your wife when she's pregnant but respect it, learn from it."

The couple who had a dreamy maternity shoot on the beach were panned for the same. Rochelle firmly hits back to all the negativity that took over her social media feed stating, "Men in our culture have not been taught to celebrate pregnancy and motherhood. It's not their fault, it's just the evolution of the way things are. It's a scary thing."

Rochelle also points out how pregnant women are sent to their maiden homes when it gets difficult, to which Keith interjects a strong message to all the men, "Did the mother produce the baby or did you produce the baby with her?" She continues, "Men in India find it very hard to understand. For some reason, they connect shame to showing your stomach. The same men, if I had a flat stomach and was wearing a bikini on the beach would have been like wohooo!"

"I could not handle the same look with my pregnant stomach because it's a reality of the responsibility and the amount of work a woman has to put in. I think times are changing. A lot of people did appreciate it a lot. So, slowly, I think these things will all change," concludes Rochelle.