By the time I became a journalist Jaya Bhaduri had become Jaya Bachchan and retired from films, well almost.
The first time I met her was at Shammi Aunty’s home, she had come home carrying special food for the senior actress. In the coming years, I kept bumping into her at an award function, at Prithvi Theatre, at the hospital, and at the airport and even though her husband had imposed a ban on the media Jaya responded spontaneously to people.
The first time I interviewed her was on the sets of Nauker where she was doing patchwork shooting. She explained that the last time she shot with Sanjeev Kumar on this film was before her marriage and now after two kids she was called for the leftover scenes, “It all feels so strange”.
Yes, from Bhopal to Pune and Mumbai and now Delhi as Rajya Sabha member, it has been indeed a long journey for the actor.

The film has been streaming on Netflix since December 2019 but I watched it only recently. Marriage Story should, in fact, be called a Divorce story because it tells of an actress-director marriage, an anatomy of a relationship that begins with attraction, attachment, disconnect and finally non-communication.
Written and directed by Noah Bombach and starting Scarlette Johansson and Driver Adams who deliver their career’s best performance.
Psychiatrists say that the biggest human tragedy is the loss of a child, the second biggest tragedy is a divorce, third is the death of a spouse and finally, the death of a parent.
Marriage Story tells you what happens when a couple splits, some people though wonderful are not meant to live together.
@bhawanasomaaya

Who would have imagined that a three-decade-old mythological serial was going to be revived in times of coronavirus, but it has.
Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan garnered believe it or not 170 million after just 4 episodes and the TRPs are only adding.
So what attracts the audience to the mythological because it isn’t as if it is the best production, many more on the same topic have been better packaged and presented, do what is it about Sagar’s Ramayan that hooks the public to the narrative?
My theory is that while the other serials had better sets and costumes they lacked in soul and purity. The other reason is nostalgia, the fact that all of us watched this serial on the same day, same time, the same channel makes the experience special.
Whatever the reasons, in this turbulent times a large group is finding solace in the teachings of Lord Ram.
@bhawanasomaaya

Meru Cabs A True Story by Gaurav Rao tells the story of Neeraj Gupta, who at age 32 became the founder and Managing Director of India’s first and largest Radio Taxi Company, Meru Cabs.
Starting from a garage in the year 2997 with a borrowed capital of 50,000 by 2011 Gupta had created an empire valued st 2000 crores.
The book is a journey into the mind of a genius, his strategies, his principle, his interpersonal relationships with his clients and his team.
Published by Bloomsbury the book is a must-read for every startup company.
@bhawanasomaaya

Lesson: Self Reliance

A writer has a lot to occupy her mind and time, m Radio channel Big FM decided that we reinvent the review show with a section called Classic where I will review the memorable vintage films. They asked me to get cracking instantly. In normal circumstances when I arrive at the recording studio it takes me ten minutes to complete the audio recording and about half an hour with all the technical glitches to complete the video recordings.

Post the recordings are the promo shoots, the stills and then back home to put it all on the social media. Friday for all film critics is an exhausting day but also an exhilarating day and now suddenly there is silence. My program head tells me I will have to do all the recordings on my own using the iPhone. I am petrified but I have no choice.  Through trial and error, I learn to position myself, learn to rectify my eye contact and finally learn to use first the microphone and later the camera to record myself. I have to do it a number of times before it is good enough to be posted but before that I have to learn the uploading which takes ages but is finally done.  Corona virus has taught me self-reliance and I’m hoping the coming week will be as productive as this one.

@bhawanasomaaaya

Lesson: No risk

On 25 March the Prime Mister addresses the people of the country again, says we did a great job in observing the weekend lockdown and prepares us for a fortnight lockdown, says it is necessary for the safety of our lives and those we love. His message is strong, stay indoors. The media offices are aware of what is coming and have held important meeting with teams on how to operate from home retaining social distance. So far, it was all about social media, now everyone was talking about virtual events, virtual launches even virtual breakfast and dinners.

 I know of many events that were cancelled and slowly came the big halt, the malls, the cinema halls, fine dining, shopping streets and more. Most of us listened to the Prime Minister and stayed indoors and so many didn’t and indulged in evening walks, pet walks, sitting in the building verandah and that is when the police came out with lathis threatening to attack all unless they stayed indoors.

Lesson of the day was isolation was for real, no indulgences, no risks, no contact with who so ever and everyone had to learn to plan their days and remain positive.  Before going to bed I listed calls I had to make, articles I had to write and house chores I has to accomplish. By evening I was exhausted so watched TV, ate my dinner and fell asleep.

@bhawanasomaaya

Lesson: Be positive

At the grocers there were many like me with long lists on a piece of paper and to most of the things asked, an over exhausted Chedda bhai shook his head and said “Sorry it is over”. When he finally focused attention to me, I was fortunate to cover most of the groceries on my list and I think this is only because my demand of quantity was lower.  When an older woman asked when will the new stock arrive, Chedda bhai stated a few days later adding with full confidence that corona virus is leaving the country in the next four days. How does the grocer know and how can he announce this so casually like he is the health minister?

On reaching home the security guard says people are unnecessarily panicking why must they worry when there is a prime minister to protect us, so many times  there have been threats of  flu and conjunctivitis but did  anything happen, nothing will happen to anybody so best is to enjoy life and not worry about the future.

Lesson of the day is to remain positive but not be over confident, we don’t have all the answers as yet and till then we need to wait and watch…. 

@bhawanasomaaya

Lesson: No panic

The following days apparently looked like normal days but something was not right, the roads looked more or less empty and wherever you went people discussed corona virus. Some said the fear was exaggerated and we should continue to live our lives as naturally as we do while some said caution was necessary and we must get ready to exercise restraint for a long, long time. Friends advised that I stock up the kitchen, the Frigidaire, banks advised that I withdraw money and keep it home for safety, driver advised that we fill up the tank and the chemist called to say if I needed to order more medicines.

I learnt that there was no need to panic but there was no need to ignore the suggestions either, so connected with the bank, the chemist, filled petrol and visited the groceries shop because he had no time to pick up phones forget about delivering the groceries.

 @bhawanasomaaya