Swara Bhasker, who started her acting career with a brief role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish, has constantly been a non-conformist. In her choice of roles, choice of commitments in real life, she has done exactly what she wanted to. Now, on an extended maternity leave Swara speaks on her priorities in life.Your life as a wife and mother, is it what you expected it to be?To be honest I didn’t know what to expect. It’s been a whirlwind and probably the most transformative experience of my life. I’ve never known such joy, such peace but also I’ve never experienced such varying swings of emotional states. It’s exhausting but the thing I’ve grappled with the most is an identity crisis. I’ve always considered myself a career woman and after I had my daughter, I just didn’t want to leave her and my career ambitions just disappeared. And I could hardly recognise myself! Of course, that was early motherhood and now Raabu is 2.5 years old and I’m coming out of the Mommy trenches slowly. I know it’s a cliché but it’s so true that a child gives birth to a mother! I’ve seen that happen to me.You have been away from the screen for almost three years, are you restless to get back?I do want to get back to work but selectively. Last year, I had my first foray onto prime time TV with Pati Patni Aur Panga on Colours. It was a huge success and I think it introduced me to a new audience. So now, I have various options – small or big or OTT. But to be honest, I’m not in a tearing hurry. My baby will only be an infant and toddler for a few years and this time will never come back, so I’m quite clear that I want to prioritise being around for her during this time. I’m confident that I will choose a career path whenever she’s older.After Deepika Padukone’s refusal to work beyond a certain hours, what is your take on maternity management?I think it’s very natural for new moms to prioritise time with their babies and I think they should be allowed to work on their own terms. Whoever doesn’t want to accommodate a new mom’s terms don’t work with them. I think Deepika is a big enough star to bring a lot of value to any project and she deserves to be able to negotiate the terms of contract she wants.A blunt question: how difficult is being married to a Muslim in an increasingly intolerant nation?Being married to a Muslim is not at all hard in a personal and bilateral sense between us or our families. But as someone with strong secular views and public presence, the kind of trolling I and Fahad go through on social media is just off the charts. It feels like there is a certain section of people on social media who cannot bear to see that a Hindu woman can be happily married to a Muslim man without losing her identity, personally or beliefs. Because then all the hate and propaganda will not add up. So yes, the difficulty is external, not internal. And, of course, as the mother of an interfaith child it’s heartbreaking to see how hate is thriving in our beautiful diverse country.