Shubha Majumder, 36, an HR executive and mother of two, recently paid Rs. 26,000 for two annual memberships at BookBuddy. She now has a clinical psychologist visit her home for four hours each week, to read to her children, aged 10 and 4.

“This gives me time to catch up with friends, go to a movie, shop, read or just relax,” she says, adding, “I learnt my lesson with my first child. I realised how important it was to have my own space.”

In what experts are calling the next stage in the evolution of urban Indian motherhood, a growing number of mothers, backed by high-paid jobs and accustomed to a certain lifestyle, are turning to niche professional childcare services such as reading clubs, pay-per-hour crèches and night crèches to help them set aside ‘me time’.

“New-age mothers are not just concerned with work-life balance. They are now juggling work, parenting and ‘me time’,” says Nirali Sanghi, CEO of parenting website IndiaParenting.com.