Ma tujhe salaam!

Divya Dutta

The day had finally arrived. The day I had been waiting for, the day I would celebrate my journey with my ma with the world, celebrate her. Everything had worked beautifully for Me and Ma!

I had wanted a certain publishing house for my book. They had instantly agreed and gave me the freedom to write how I wished to.

I had wished Shabana Azmi to do the foreword for my book. She wrote such a beautiful piece, one straight from the heart. And finally it was my dream to have Mr Amitabh Bachchan release the book and he so very graciously agreed.

And finally, it was the launch day. I was tense and anxious that everything should work out fine. Mr Bachchan had given the time for 7.30 pm. My dear friends Juhi Chawla and Sonali Bendre had agreed to read excerpts from the book. They had both known ma personally and this one was for her. Yes, it was her day.

My friends were there in full strength. They had dropped everything to be with me. Sonali came first and the photojournalists were clicking our pictures. Suddenly I saw Mr Bachchan. He had arrived at sharp 7.30. My friend Rajit Kapur started the event with a beautiful speech remembering ma and how he fondly called her “purple” because she loved the colour. Sonali warmly read an excerpt and Juhi joined in with another.

We had made a short audio-visual on our journey with ma. Sharing our magical, happy, emotional moments with her. Some had known ma so well and some were getting to know her very well now.

Finally Mr Bachchan spoke. He made everyone smile with his witty words and he too mentioned purple, remembering ma, my lovely Nalini Dutta.

The book was launched, with my brother Rahul by my side. Mr Bachchan released it.

My vision was blurred with unshed tears. I stopped a tear from trickling out. I knew ma was sitting somewhere there seeing us all celebrating her. I knew she was smiling and waving out to me, giving me a thumbs-up! “Sab achha ho gaya beta”. I could hear.

The book was in my hand. Me and Ma, the story of our lives, all set to be shared with the readers. The story of two women who happened to be mother-daughter but were the best of friends. The story is shared straight from the heart.

With folded hands, a big shukriya for all the love for the book and for the woman behind it, my best friend my ma —Nalini.

(Dutta is a Bollywood actress)