So today’s blogpost is going to be the journey of my life.
Born a princess, into the Royal Family of the Patwardhans from Sangli. This particular ghagra was made for my 1st birthday with real gold resham work. My mother preserved it and gave it to me when I had my daughter Avantika. She wore it on her 1st birthday and I have preserved it for the generation next.
At that age I almost owned a zoo, not only the cat next to me, but I had dogs, horses, cows, camels, elephants (all part of the royal entourage) but the local zoo in Sangli having rabbits, deer, leopards and more.
The first born, I was a doll for my 20year old mother and the apple of my father’s eye.
I was always the protective elder sister to both my siblings, Madhuvanti and Purnima. Madhuvanti is married and settled in USA with 2 boys. Purnima, who had also played my younger sister in my first T.V.Serial, Amol Palekar’sc – Kachhi Dhoop shuttles between Canada and Mumbai.
Thats how Soorajji visualized me when we shot for Maine Pyaar Kiya. Still in college, I used to attend my college in the mornings before reaching for my shoot. So today when someone says they don’t want to study, because they are working I get surprised.
My high school sweetheart became my husband. I enjoyed having Mehndi on my hands so much that for the entire first year of my marriage my hands were perpetually colored.
When Maine Pyaar Kiya released in December 1989, I had no idea that it would become an iconic film and I would be remembered as Suman for rest of my life. This picture was shot by the Master Lensman, Gautam Rajadhyaksha.
Marriages are made in heaven but they have to be worked on here, on earth. Togetherness from back to now has been a journey of 28 years.
My first born Abhimanyu, changed my world. The transition from a teenage girl to a married woman to a mother happened so fast for me that I grew up almost overnight. Suddenly I felt responsible for another life. He was the first grandchild in the entire family and totally doted upon by all, grandparents, uncles, aunts, just about all in the family.
Avantika, I finally got my doll again. I went back to being a girl, dressing her up, playing with her and not leaving her for a minute. She is the youth I missed, the zing that keeps me alive.
Life begins all over again now, when we can lie back and enjoy what we have built, created, nurtured over so many years. After all life is a story you write for yourself, pages turn, chapters finish, we smile, we cry, we discover, we grow, but we will finish the book together.
