I feel guilty as my friend slipped into a coma

A page from the personal diary of Deven Bhojani There have been many sweet & sour incidents that I will always remember in my life. I will start with a sour one. Shivers run down my spine when I recall the day, almost 18 years ago, when I met with a bike accident. The worst part is that my best friend’s fiancée was riding pillion and after the accident she went into a state of coma for three months. When she returned from the hospital, she suffered from partial paralysis. But gradually she recovered and now she is absolutely fine. The great thing is that the incident didn’t affect our friendship and we are really close to each other. I know people say that it was not my fault, but till date I feel guilty for the entire episode. Now I shall talk about all the happy memories. I think my stay in USA, where I had gone to learn film-making, was an enriching and life-changing experience. I got to learn a lot and actually explored my qualities to the core. Furthermore, the day I received the award for Best Director for my show Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, my happiness knew no bounds. I actually realised the feeling of being on top of the world. Sarabhai vs Sarabhai team was an amazing one. Everyone enjoyed a lot and we kept doing lot of masti on the show. One incident when Rupali Ganguly had a sequence where she had to wear a very gaudy dress. And the moment she entered the sets we all started shouting, “wah,wah”, and showering coins on her, like the way we do it in a mujra. Satish Shah was the biggest prankster on the sets. I often got tempted to join them in their mastis, but on being the captain of the ship, I had to control everyone. I have already listed so many of my memories. But nothing compares to the feeling of becoming a father. When I saw and hugged my little bundle of joy, I realized that happiness has nothing to do with wealth, fame or anything else. It is rapt in chota chota moments in life that we fail to capture. I have learned a lot from my varied experiences and shall keep learning in the future as well.