The one thing I’ve always believed in life is love and hope. For me life has been extremely fulfilling with theatre, an extremely successful career in advertising, three blissful marriages, four lovely children and living every moment of life.
However, nothing came easy. It was very difficult at certain stages but the strong desire to achieve those things made me work harder. I was from a well-to-do typical Gujarati family and my parents especially my mother made sure that we never felt the lack for anything in life. I thought I had a secured background till I realised the cracks in the relationship between my parents. Not even once did my mother make me realise that she and my father were not on speaking terms and were living silently under one roof.
College was a high point for me. At St Xavier’s life was fun and it was a place to explore your passion. It was here that I saw Pearl and fell in love with her instantly. I knew it from that moment how much I loved Pearl and wanted to marry her. After college I went to the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts and Dramatics at London for theatre studies while Pearl went to Australia for post-graduation. When I came back I found Pearl married with two children. But I still loved her immensely and more than before. She filed for a divorce and I was striving hard to make a mark in the field of advertising. I wanted to have a home where I could settle with Pearl and the two children. The first three years meant slogging it out. Coming from a comfortably rich background I gave up a lot of luxuries. However, the thought of marrying Pearl and being with her, pushed me hard to achieve more in life.
After three years I earned a good amount of money, bought a house and moved in with Pearl and the two children to start a wonderful life. But as all marriages go through a crisis period, ours was no different and went through its share of difficulties where there was no novelty left. It was best to part ways and I remember the separation being extremely painful.
Post that I got very involved with work and met Dolly Thakore and fell in love again. We married and again after a few years parted ways since the relationship wasn’t heading the right way. Theatre, films, advertising kept me very busy. I was moving ahead in life with a successful professional career. Few years later I met Sharon Prabhakar and took a liking to her instantly. We soon got married.
After going through three marriages, I felt that there was no point in being bitter or feel any sort of resentment if the relationship doesn’t work. The best thing is to come apart and still be there for each other. And life is so much better if you do away with all the hatred and anger. I still believe strongly in the institution of marriage but for it to work it needs cooperation from both the sides. I share a wonderful relationship with my children Raell from Pearl, Quasar from Dolly, Shazahn from Sharon and Ranjeet Chaudhary, my stepson. At times I do feel guilty for not having being there for them when they needed me the most. But today the bond is stronger and I have graduated from the role of father to elder brother to a friend and confidant. It’s quite strange that I feel I am a better Godfather than father.
I have to thank my three wives for being so loving and practical. We are a wonderful joint family where Dolly, Sharon and our children come together at Pearl’s birthday and remember her. I miss Pearl a lot and actually talk to her every night. For me being emotional and rational is important since the latter helps emotions get a practical path.