Daily Times

I sat down with the trending mother blog in the country which is making waves and gathering a following in an extremely short time. While Ayesha Nasir is no stranger to the media world, Scaryammi is her first independent media product and is growing faster than we can say “scary”. Why ScaryAmmi? What does she hope to achieve from this platform?

Why ScaryAmmi?

I have always identified with the ‘tiger mom’. I think as a high achiever in school and college, and a quintessential type A mom, I have always felt like I could relate with tiger moms. When I read stories of mothers who kept their children on a schedule, I felt like I was peaking into my own diary. I am not proud of being a ScaryAmmi or a tiger mom! Neither am I ashamed of it. It’s just who I am and since this group/ blog was started based on my mothering philosophy, it made sense to make it as true and authentic as possible.

Are you actually a scary mom, or is this just something you say because it is cute?

I don’t actually scare my kids or wear horror masks but I am generally overwhelmed. Other mothers often tell me that they marvel at my ability to multitask. Interestingly enough, this is maybe my biggest strength and greatest failing. I take on too much. Then I become overwhelmed and it all starts to go downhill. Many times a day I have to stop myself from raising my voice or becoming loud. So in some ways, I guess I am a scary ammi.

Are you a ScaryAmmi or a scared mom?

That’s a good question. I think I’m a bit of both. As one reads and ponders more and more over motherhood and the challenges that parenthood brings with it, the entire process seems overwhelming and scary. We realise how our actions can have long reaching and disastrous or not-so-disastrous results for our children and the family as a whole. The sheer responsibility of being a mother scares me but the type-A, routine-obsessed, hollering and pushing mom I sometimes become probably scares the kids.

The concept of bloggers isn’t a new one in the west! Do you feel the Pakistani blogosphere is gaining traction too?

It probably is a little premature to use the term blogosphere since there is still only a fraction of the public that is on social media and connected by internet. Abroad the internet has become more essential than having a landline or even a laptop! People connect onto free WiFi on their phones and basically use these devices to find their way, search for jobs, pay bills, connect with family, order medications and more so. The phone and the web is how the vast majority abroad are receiving their news and hence bloggers have become increasingly influential and popular. Ariana Huffington is a classic example of a blogger who was able to build a multimillion dollar conglomerate based on her blog. All major newspapers and magazines run blogs too and often the blogs are getting more traction than the news. There are many incidents of blogs being turned into movies and leading to book contracts. In Pakistan, blogging is still relatively new. It’s great to see a large number of women taking up blogging seriously, defining their jobs as full-time bloggers and working toward weaving a unique and distinct narrative through their stories.

Are mommy bloggers the new ‘in’ trend?

I’m not sure if it can be defined as in or a trend. It’s a lot of hard work being a blogger and even more work being a mommy blogger. If you look at it. maybe a mommy blogger is simply a sign of how our society has evolved an old tradition thanks to the influx of technology. In the times of our grandmothers, they used to sit together in verandahs and gardens, sip tea in fine china cups and discuss the antics of their children. While the little humans were running around and entertaining themselves, women would share anecdotes and ask for suggestions while taking a tea break or cooking together in a massive kitchen. In the times of our mothers, the courtyards were replaced by landline phones and the joint family system disintegrated into separate units within the same boundary. Now the women would take tea breaks while chatting away on their landlines and sipping chai in mugs. Being a mommy blogger is born out of the same need to share, discuss and learn from each other.

What inspired you to launch ScaryAmmi?

Both my older two were news-babies. In the sense, that I was working as a full-time television journalist while pregnant with Keyaan and then Aahil. I would be breast feeding them and editing stories. Hushing them to sleep and working on headlines. I felt I had it all sorted and was proud of myself for managing it all. Until Ranya happened. Being pregnant with a third baby while the older two were barely toddlers was really overwhelming. Adding to the stress was the move from Lahore to Karachi and then Karachi to Islamabad. My husband had started travelling on an insane schedule, forcing me from my role as part of a well oiled parenting machine to being the surly and oftentimes frustrated single parent. I took a break with Ranya but now that she is five years old, I have been itching to go back. The idea of combining my two passions – motherhood and journalism – has been playing in the back of my mind for a while. With ScaryAmmi, both these parts of my life have come together almost naturally.

What is ScaryAmmi? A blog? A community? A support group?

My aim with ScaryAmmi is to build an integrated platform. ScaryAmmi is a blog where I share my writings and my take on everything to do with motherhood. It is also a Facebook community and a rapidly growing one at that, with more than 10,000 members in a matter of eight weeks or so. I am constantly amazed at how quickly ScaryAmmi has managed to create a following a name for itself. Our website is under construction and we are also in the process of launching another super cool ScaryAmmi media product. Mum is the word for now.

What kind of activities does ScaryAmmi do offline?

I think this is maybe one of the ways in which ScaryAmmi stands out because we are super-active offline also. We do three to four events a month, and have an ever growing group of mothers who are always eager to attend our events. Most of our events get sold out within hours and some of the more successful ones like the Professional Mommies Meetup and the Nutrition 101 series have become monthly regulars.

Do your ambitions go beyond ScaryAmmi?

I think ScaryAmmi happened at an opportune time in my life. It has rekindled my ambition and I am now constantly dreaming of new and interesting ways of launching unique products within the rapidly changing and growing world of media.

Published in Daily Times, January 13^th 2019.