The Indian society has traditionally romanticized motherhood as unselfish, nurturant and morally upright. This stereotype is, however, disproved in Indian English literature, through the portrayal of mothers who fail, repudiate, or subvert the traditional roles of mothers. The present paper is an analysis of the theme of absent or imperfect mothers in four Indian English novels: Where Shall We Go This Summer? written by Anita Desai, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, That Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande and Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto. These narratives help the paper to explore how such depictions are indicators of tension in society, shifting gender expectations, and transforming ideals about motherhood.