A model mum: Sneak peek into the life of Alesia Raut

So what is a fashion model's life like? Top Indian model Alesia Raut shares snippets from her life in pictures.

Do fashion models lead as charmed a life as we think they do?

Is it all party-party-party?

Are they surrounded by great looking people with truckloads of money?

We got Alesia Raut to share with us her snippets from her day.

Alesia, her son Mark and Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera who shot these pictures are about to shatter all your myths.

Ready to go?

It doesn't matter how long a day it has been, Alesia Raut is up at 6.45 the next morning.

She has to get her seven-year-old son Mark ready for school and there's no escaping that duty.

Being a mother comes with its unique set of responsibilities, ones that Alesia is most conscious about.

You can skip your breakfast but you cannot afford to have you seven-year-old skip his, can you?

Raut makes scrambled eggs and cereal.

Soon it is time to go to school. After having bid Mark goodbye at about half past seven and Laska, her dog, is taken for a walk, Alesia begins her day.

First stop: Gym

Then all the other chores follow -- from paying the bills to visiting the bank to grocery shopping.

By 3pm she is back home in time for Mark to return from school.

While he is in his tuition classes, she does the chores in the house.

By half past six, she is outdoors again, as Mark steps out to play with his friends.

The two are back in time to watch Saraswati Chandra, a popular television show that Alesia loves and by 8.30, Mark is in bed.

“I make sure I read out something to him in bed. Once he's asleep, which is after about 9pm, it's my time,” Alesia says.

“I spend some time online and prepare myself for the next day.”

Shocked? Welcome to the real life of a real model :-)

Alesia happens to be a single mother, which makes her job of balancing her work and personal life extremely difficult.

To avoid every day becoming a battle, Alesia thinks as far ahead as she can.

"If I know I have to travel in advance, I pack my bag a month before my date of departure so there isn't anything left out on the nth moment.

"I try to foresee possible situations and look for solutions.

"There's no other way I'll be able to cope otherwise," she says.

Here they are seen at their favourite eatery -- Candies, in suburban in Bandra

Modelling was never on Alesia Raut's mind. In fact for the longest time she thought it was a bad thing to be tall.

Her classmates made fun of her height, and as is the wont of tall people, she found herself on the last benches of all her classrooms through school.

It wasn't until 1999, when her mother suggested she try her hand at modelling, a job where her height would be to her advantage for a change.

"I hadn't even known that it was a good thing to be tall if you were a model," she says.

And so the journey started when that year she participated in the Look of the Year contest and ended among the top spots.

Alesia Raut has a dreamy look as she awaits her turn backstage during Lakme Fashion Week.

For about four fortnights of the year Alesia's regular schedule goes for a toss -- that's when she is walking the runway for some of the best designers in India at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in New Delhi and Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai.

If it's in New Delhi, she doesn't get to meet Mark at all. But at Lakme Fashion Week, she doesn't mind getting him along once in a while.

Here Mark is seen with Alesia at the Lakme Fashion Week venue in Mumbai.

Mark is a familiar face at the Lakme Fashion Week. He knows his way around the place and he's social, warm and mighty enthusiastic -- all qualities that we think he's got from his mother.

When she is walking at Lakme Fashion Week, much of Alesia's day is spent at the venue.

It starts, as always, at 6.45am. The only difference in her morning schedule is that she carries her breakfast with her to work and a medicine band to workout just before a meal or sometime during the day.

After having started out with a bang in 1999, she started walking for India Fashion Week in 2001.

A graceful dancer, Alesia soon found herself flooded with offers to perform in music videos which back then were a rage.

She did more than a handful before getting married and choosing to settle down.

After taking a break, she returned to modelling in 2007 and Alesia Raut was back where she belonged -- on the runway!

"Mercifully, the fashion industry isn't as bad as Bollywood where your career is practically over after you become a mother," she says.

So the jobs kept coming and Alesia kept taking them up.

Alesia is among the senior models at Lakme Fashion Week.

She is also among the fittest, not to mention cheerful people at the venue.

Humble and always approachable, Alesia's exuberance is contagious.

It is also what got her through the toughest parts of her life, she says.

"You have to have a positive outlook towards life.

"I cope with unexpected things that come my way by trying to be as prepared as possible.

"Sure they throw you off balance but you learn to cope with the surprises, I suppose," she says.

Alesia says she's aware of the fickle nature of the profession she is in:

"We (models) come with a limited shelf life.

"Of course it is a little disconcerting.

"I have my fixed deposits; I invest regularly.

"Then there are the two fashion weeks.

"So I think I am alright.

"When time comes for me to go, I will step down gracefully.

Then I'll have to find something else to do!"