I have asserted it on a number of times and at many occasions that I acknowledge Aruna Thyagarajan(moviezombie) as my guru in writing movie reviews. I consider her as the best movie reviewer that has ever been active on this forum.
Aruna wrote her last(99th) review in January 2011 and then due to the nuisance-mongers' activities and personalized attacks on her, she left this forum forever. However she did post a comment on my review of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara in July 2011. After that, I completely lost contact with her though in September 2011, I came to know from her Facebook account that she was about to visit India and expecting some good news. But after some time, I suddenly found that she's no longer on FB also. E-mail communication also had stopped altogether. Gradually I got somewhat concerned about her well-being and I mentioned it after some time in my blog which I had written on her birthday(26.02.2012).
I could not disassociate with MS though I wanted to do so. Aruna never came to MS or FB. Nor did I get any e-mail from her. I sent messages to her through M2M on MS and also sent e-mails from time to time asking whether she's hale and hearty and everything was all right at her end. But I got no response or communication for such a long period. Since Aruna is a singer also(sung in a Hollywood movie), she had sent me the link of her medley that she had performed on the occasion of the Republic Day of India celebrated in Canada(her country of residence) in 2011, I kept on listening to it from time to time and praying for her well-being.
On 26.06.2014, i.e., just a fortnight back, I casually sent one more communication at her e-mail address known to me, inquiring for her well-being only. I requested in that e-mail that in case she happened to read that mail, just let me know whether she was fine. And after two weeks, yesterday I found in the inbox of my e-mail account that the response to my communication had arrived. She thanked me and confirmed that she's okay and happy with her work, her hubby and her two kids. She had one kid when she had last communicated to me. Hence I can understand that she gave birth to her second kid during this period only and the responsibilities pertaining to motherhood kept her away from the virtual world.
But this small communication gave me immense joy. All of a sudden, I started feeling very light and relaxed. She has been my virtual friend who read my Hindi plays which I had sent to her through e-mail and gave feedback to me regarding them. Besides, being a clinical psychologist by profession, she also gave me her consultation regarding some personal issues from such a long distance. Otherwise also, as said supra, I have learnt a lot from her. Since I have been missing her throughout this time period, this hiatus in communication has not affected my friendly feelings towards her. I still love to use her immortal quote - 'Review is about feelings and what the movie evokes in one. Moviemaking and movie viewing is so subjective.never know who it reaches out to and how' in my reviews.
Now I am relieved that my friend who was once a pillar of MS, is hale and hearty and doing well in her life and career. This small piece of information has brought big joy to me and I can't help remembering the quote of Sudhir Kohli, a hero created by my favourite Hindi author Surendra Mohan Pathak -'Joy enters your life through such a door which you're even not aware of that you have kept it open'.
Take care Aruna. May you always get the best from your life. Amen!
