Masaba Gupta is about to take on her most stylish role yet – motherhood. As she awaits the arrival of her mini-me, the actress-designer dishes out on her pregnancy journey, her recent baby shower, and embracing the unknown. “I am equally excited and nervous. I am heading into something that's a little bit unpredictable and at the same time very exciting. But I am prepared for the unpredictable,” she tells us. Excerpts as followed...

Talking about her current headspace, Masaba shares, “I have absorbed the massive change that's going to come in my daily life. It took me about two-three months to absorb that. I've never felt more organized.”

The baby is expected next month in October. The 34-year-old admits her routine is “pretty similar to what it was before” she got pregnant. She starts her day with a prayer or a meditation, followed by workout or a yoga class.

“I am spending a lot more time with my mother (Neena Gupta, actress) and my husband (Satyadeep Misra). I'm spending a lot more time on my own, which is amazing. I'm suddenly in this mode of managing the cupboards and the furniture. I'm just preparing the space physically for what's to come," Masaba shares, adding, “I always wanted to be active during my pregnancy and so, asked my doctors to tell me what I can and cannot do."

Ask Masaba if she feels the pressure to be a perfect parent in the future and she replies, “Not at all. I don’t know what kind of parent I will be, but the one thing that I’m clear about is that I will not take advice from 20 people. I ask people to back off when they give me unsolicited advice because I don’t need it. Of course, there will be a support group of people from different walks of life who I look up to. I’m a big fan of how kids were raised in the past.”

She adds, “I intend to be a hands-on parent like my mother because she did a lot by herself. I will be perfect in some areas; I will be imperfect in some and I will be learning every day. Babies are super resilient. I don’t want to put any pressure even on my mother and ask her to be around the baby because she has her own life.”

Talking about her husband Satyadeep’s take on life, she says, “Sattu comes from another planet (laughs). He has a very different take on life. He was also raised differently because his parents are civil servants, and they travelled a lot. What we have in common is that we both believe that we have to learn how to wing it in the best and worst of circumstances.”

Masaba’s mother Neena Gupta is often seen as the quintessential modern mother. Ask her about the tips that she’s got from her mum and she replies, “We were just talking about it the other day that there is no photograph or documentation of her pregnancy at all on the internet. She had to hide her pregnancy. She was telling me how she (even) did a dance number in her eighth or ninth month. I asked her if she was nervous, as she had to hide the whole pregnancy. She said, ‘I didn’t have the money to give you protein. I didn't have the money to be on any diet or nutrition plan. But I was very happy to have a child.’ The only thing that she told me is that, ‘A child can be born and be raised very well and become anything that you imagine or aspire the child to be from a footpath and from a mansion’. So that’s my manual. She always reminds me that children are born on the footpath in this country and they turn out okay, so I should make the most of the resources I have got and not have this expectation that my child would turn out to be greater."

Masaba’s decision – unlike her mum’s - to be out in the public eye, rocking the bump, was not preplanned. “I don't think I planned too much. I was just so happy to be pregnant and so happy to be a healthy pregnant person. For the first time I was not at war with my body. I am somebody who cares deeply about how I look and how my fitness levels are. I was so happy to be putting on that weight, to be growing a healthy bump and to be looking fuller. I just wanted to be able to have every experience the way I have been having when I was not pregnant. I didn’t want to hide it from anybody. Women look good when they're pregnant. They look so wholesome. There is an inherent joy, and you have to celebrate that with the world,” she elaborates.

Masaba adds, "I was greatly inspired by Kareena (Kapoor Khan, actress) because she was just out and about. She was working, having dinner, having lunch and living like a normal pregnant woman would live. Even Alia (Bhatt, actress). She had to promote a film; she promoted a film. It was not a big deal. We make too much of a deal out of it. You should just celebrate pregnancy."