At the turn of the century, actor and model Sushmita Sen raised many eyebrows with her decision to adopt a girl child — not only was Sen a single mother, she was all of 24 at the time. A decade later, Sen went on to adopt another daughter, Alisah, who recently moved many hearts with her heart-warming essay on adoption. Sen has shared a video of her proud-mom moment on her Instagram account, which went on to renew many conversations about the state of adoption in India, a country where more than 60,000 children are abandoned every year. For far too long, adoption has been treated as a taboo subject. Many parents are still reluctant to disclose their decision to adopt for fear of their children (and their families) being judged and labelled by their social circles. In fact, Sen recently discussed her displeasure with adoption being equated with charity, claiming that her decision was motivated by her need to embrace motherhood and to ground herself.

Sen with long-time boyfriend Rohman Shawl