Dedication: To my dearest Mom, with love
Losing a mom is never easy and no matter how many years pass, it will always feel like yesterday. I remember it was just an ordinary day at work when I got this fateful call that I had lost my mom. It was an unfortunate accident that took her away. It was this shock of an untimely death of mom’s unfulfilled dreams that changed my outlook to life. Married, I was living a normal life – office to home, home to office. Of course, I was a fun-loving person, who love entertainment and was enjoying life, but I was not really living my passions. It was then that I realised that there was so much I wanted to do, because my mom could not do half of what she had actually spoken to us about. She wanted to see the Alps, she wanted to travel, seize crazy opportunities, which I am doing all of today.
I remember I had gone to visit her two days before she expired. I always used to do that. I lived in Andheri (Mumbai), used to work at Churchgate, so would park at the station, take an earlier train, get off mid-way at a station close to mom’s, pop in to have breakfast with her and then take a bus to work. I can still see her standing on the steps in the light -blue dress hugging me goodbye asking me to drive safely always. Two days later, she was no more and then came that bolt out of the blue just a month later. There I was a winner of a free airline ticket to Amsterdam. All alone on a 22- day trip of Europe, when I went up the Alps, I knew in my heart that it was my crazy mom who had engineered this and seeing it all through me. Here are a few lines from the poem, I wrote for my mom, that says it all:
Each time I look up at the clouds in the sky
I see you’re smiling face and wish had wings to fly
To share with you the fun and storms, I withstood
To give you a hug, say the good bye, I never could
I decided that enough was enough and I had to get into a mode where I lived life with no regrets. I love the entertainment industry (still do), so at the age of 48, I walked into an event management institute to sign up for a 1-year diploma in event management. The Dean fell off his chair convinced that I was nuts, but when I assured him that I was not looking for a job after the course, he allowed me to join. I used to go there straight from work and that was the most wonderful 1-year spent learning with youngsters half my age. This experience made me want to learn more and so I took up a certificate course in voicing and dubbing. Of course, I knew this was not going to get me a job because by then age was an issue but then not everything, we learn needs to get monetized, because it does anyways – in our hearts and souls. Retired today, but definitely rewired for more, I have six published books to my credit, written and directed three social cause short films, acted in over a dozen short films (the mother forever!), and done crowd dubbing and voicing for over six films in English till date. I continue to volunteer for social causes of Dementia & Alzheimer, attend events, go studio hopping and grab every opportunity, learning more and more each day. The cause of Dementia & Alzheimer is close to my heart and recently thanks to my involvement with my friend Sailesh Mishra of Silver Innings Foundation working in that area, I got to fly to New York and make a statement on health & right to health services for older persons at #OWEG convention held at UN headquarters, in May 2024. My love for motivating others, is reflected my podcast called “Rewire Life in 1½ minutes with Hira” on Spotify. Most importantly, my passion is continuous learning and making friends everywhere I go. All thanks to my mom who taught me to look up at the sky and see the beautiful art forms that God created with clouds in the sky to remind me that there is so much more, if you just look for it. I just hope that my sharing will help you to look within again and free that dream tucked away in the corner of your heart. So look at that face in the mirror and ask what it wants and take that leap of faith.
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Photo credit: Image provided by the storyteller.
