SPIRIT OF MUMBAI

" Congratulations Sujata, you are the winner of Jeffrey Archer contest. You will be meeting Sir Jeffrey Archer in person at Trident , Mumbai and you will receive an autographed copy of ' Only Time Will Tell ' as a prize from EBay ."  This is just a tip of an iceberg and a chip off the old block - mother's version about my winnings. Since time immortal my mother kept on reciting to me stories of Mahabharata, Ramayana as well as Dadayana. Dadayana means my father-Dada's glorious achievements as a student / social activist / inspector / publisher / editor / founder and philanthropist. My mother, my first Expert in motivation , inspired me to be a Winner .  " Like Father, Like Daughter " , mother used to remind me whenever I was depressed from a setback. She used to bring me back on the right track, if and when I suffered a failure. Her reasoning to move on and forget the fall is : this is a trifle, you must aim higher as per your st...

Almost all religions in the World preach "Sacrifice is the greatest virtue". My mom, my Aai says " Make others Happy, Happiness will return to you manifold ". My Aai is an Expert Human Being and she does not need to wear a "Being Human" T-shirt to understand what "Being Human" is all about.   Almost all people say that their moms are the expert cooks. Everybody goes gaga over their mothers' cooking expertise ... They say, "Nobody cooks Gajar ka Halwa / Butter chicken / Methi Thepla, Dhokla / Machcher Zol, Mishti doi / Idlee, Dosai, Vada / Puran-Poli, Alu-vadi / Makke di Roti , Sarson da saag / Dum Biryani, Rogan josh / Payasam, Avial etc. like my mom".  I say,"My Aai cooks most delicious Varan, Bhaat, Bhaji, Chapati ( Dal, Rice, Subzi, Roti ) under the Sun, over the Earth. So what? So nothing. My mom is the First Expert in simple, everyday routine life. In the early Eighties, when television was the most sought-afte...