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| Picture Courtesy: Kumar Gaurav, one of Vivek's precious colleagues. |
This beautiful
picture reminds me so much of the time when we had rushed to the wave cinemas in
Lucknow, back in 2009 to watch my brother’s first film with his name in end credits
as ‘Director’s Assistant’. The date was 5th of Feb. It was Madhurita
Anand’s Directorial debut, Randeep Hooda, Arbaz Khan and Raima Sen starrer
“Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye”.
There were five of
us- Mridula Ma’am, my cousin’s wife Vineeta Bhabhi, Deora Aunty, Mommy and I. Looking
back, I feel so thankful to God that I had learned driving again after years of
being afraid and was able to drive everyone for this treat. Ofcourse, our
anxious and fragile mother could not climb more than 5 steps in the auditorium.
So she sat in the nearest row with Vineeta bhabhi.
I went up and sat in
the designated seats with my teacher and aunty. I cannot begin to describe what
my mother must have felt! But I shall give it a try... Her son’s first feature film since he started working
in 2002... She must have also thought of our own cinema hall we once had... Had
Papa been there, things would have been very different... But those are my views. Seriously, she was mostly filled with gratitude towards the end.
At some point in
the movie, I ran down to tell her to keep a lookout, as our Guddu will appear
on the screen any moment now, as the music jam scene was about to begin as shown
in the trailers. And thankfully, Vivek made a friendly appearance!
The day she had passed away back in 2009, I was angry at her for ‘not
waiting for
another two-three years to see us get really successful, receive awards’ and
said as much to an aunty. Today, I realize, she left, so that we would not
suffer due to her failing health. Another thing I realized is that becoming hugely
successful, especially, in this industry is not that easy... Also, in order to
maintain your confidence in the interim one needs to have a lot of faith. Her
faith on the other hand, was generally very strong in those days. At one point she had declared “Hum
haThaat se chale jaayenge ek din”/ ‘I’d leave suddenly, one day’... Yes,
“haThaat” is Bengali, pronounced “HoThaat”, and my mother had adapted a lot of
Bengali things in her Hindi manner, including ‘panch-phoran bhindi’. She was
very adorable that way and like Mridula Ma’am had pointed out one day, after a
few meetings with her how she likes that my mother is generally happy... But I
digress. The other Bengali thing she was fast to adopt were superstitions like not getting clothes washed on Thursdays. She was
extremely passionate about that one. Tuesdays and Saturdays were added by
other influences and were quite flexible with a little comparative analysis to the western lifestyle and some
‘zaroorat hai’ persuasion. To the latter she mostly replied, “Itne kapRe hain
tumlogon ke paas almaari mein, tumko yahi pahenna hai?”/ ‘you all have so many
clothes in the almirah, you have to wear these only?’
Anyway, the journey
since after mommy has been long. Vivek has worked hard and at high positions in
production department as well. Now he is making his way back into direction. A couple of days ago, bhai and I laughed over the phone, like we have not laughed in ages. I count my blessings for such special moments.
And I suspect, because of my mother's love surrounding
us, we have thankfully remained safe. I am reminded of her presence whenever we are happy.
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