So her boss asked my friend during her appraisal, "Don't you want to be like _____?" and he went on to name a certain head honcho in their industry. Now this head honcho was a woman who managed to reach the top of her profession and 'successfully balanced' a demanding career and her family.

However, my friend who has a demanding career and a demanding 5-year old said, "No!" Her rationale: If reaching the top meant not being able to spend time with her son even after putting in a 12-hour work schedule, she didn't want it.

And that's when she started wondering how our moms, who had jobs, did it all.

When you think of that, remember, your mom more likely than not had an eight-hour routine. She was a teacher or a banker or a doctor with her own clinic. All jobs that have fixed timings.

Everything, however, has changed. Today, if you have a boss who understands why you want to leave early, you are lucky. If you don't have to take a break after pregnancy because your parents will look after the baby, you are luckier.

Despite this, there are many women who handle the cooking at home, rush to work, cope with non 9-5 jobs and wonder who to call to pick up the kids from day care that day.

After reaching home, they complete the craft project that is to be submitted the next day, tidy up the kitchen and go to sleep praying that their maid will turn up tomorrow.

And then they feel guilty that they are not able to spend much 'quality time' with kids, or not able prepare traditional sweets for a particular festival…Part of this guilt again comes from hearing about other women who 'successfully balance' career and work.

But hey, is there any such thing as a 'successful balancing' act to begin with? Are there really women who do it all?

I know of at least three highly successful women who work 16-hour days. They all have at least one live-in maid, a cook and a baby-sitter.

Where does a regular woman like me get that kind of support? I'd be lucky to have a maid who comes once a day, get a decent 'dabba' service and eventually find a crèche to leave my kid without worrying too much. It is not as easy as it sounds. If I ever believed in fate, finding a good maid would be the one thing that I would want to be blessed with!

And no, this does not mean that women are successful 'only' because they have support. It is because of their brains, talent, hard work, destiny…everything that goes into success. So if my friend has all this, sure she will reach the top of her profession. If not, no amount of support will take her there!

It just means that she should not try to do it all by herself. Only SuperWoman or a time traveller would be able to cook, clean, handle the home, drop kids to school, pick them up, help with homework and work long hours.

However, there is no SuperWoman, let alone Super Women. There are only women who realise what to delegate and women who keep trying to do it all themselves (and wonder why the 'balancing act' is not working for them.)

So if you are a regular Jane who is managing it well so far, kudos to you and your entire support circle. We would love to hear how you do it. Do write in with your tips and tricks on how to stop balancing and start delegating.