The most moving chapter of the book is when Nargis is detected with cancer. She was in Delhi attending the Rajyasabha session and suspected of having jaundice. She rushed home and was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital the same evening. The next morning, Sunil Dutt and Nargis left for New York. The following morning, she was admitted to Sloane Kettering Cancer Center and returned home only a year later, after innumerable surgeries and immensely frail.
It is not easy writing about a loved one but the daughters present a startling account of how their life fell apart after their mother’s demise. All the three children watched on hopelessly as Sunil Dutt broke down. He had braved it for too long but not any longer. He was unable to rise above the tragedy and expected his elder daughter Namrata to run their home the way her mother did. Namrata couldn’t, nor could Priya, the youngest of the three and who was appearing for her tenth exams while supervising Sanjay in a rehabilitation clinic. All the children and their father were looking for an anchor and the anchor was gone!
The second time the family fell apart was when Sunil Dutt bid farewell. There is a moving account about the last hours of Sunil Dutt. On May 24 Sunil Dutt felt weak and exhausted because he had spent the entire day clearing his cupboards and packing his belongings. The family was shifting to their new home Imperial Heights in a few days’ time and he was looking forward to the grand house warming party planned by the family. On May 25 2005 when Sunil Dutt did not wake up at his usual hour, his staff contacted the children and even though all of them rushed by his side, Sunil Dutt had said farewell.
concluded