Hi Madhavi,
Have you been programming and/or learning in this time you spent off work? Your post does not speak much about your prior experience so it is a little difficult to suggest something that might be relevant in this case.
Talking of certifications, I think they are a great learning tool. These days the OCPJP certification includes things like
JDBC, commonly used design
patterns, NIO libraries, the java.util.concurrent.* package etc. So studying for the certification and practicing several programs definitely improves your knowledge and hence definitely gives you better chances of performing well in the interviews. But I have, in my limited recent experience of applying in the area you mention, not encountered an employer that ever asked if I had a certification.
If I was in a similar situation, I would much rather consider refreshing my knowledge anyway.
If I was still going for a certification anyway, I would go for the OCAJP8+OCPJP8 as that is more current and includes some functional programming also. A common thing I have been asked in my recent interviews ( and that's a small number, so my experience of interviews is limited too ) is if I understood the functional programming paradigm. In most of the job requirements I read, it was only a desired skill though.
I hope it helps.
Chan.
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