Smriti goes back to school

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Smriti goes back to school

Smriti Malhotra
Smriti Malhotra
When actor-turned-politician Smriti Malhotra Irani paid a visit to her school Holy Child Auxilium (HCA) to attend its ruby celebration (40th anniversary) recently, little did she know she’d take home the most memorable experience of her life. She preferred visiting her alma matter after a decade to a function in Mumbai where she was being honoured with an award.
Popular for setting her priorities right, this Auxilian couldn’t stop thanking her sisters and teachers – Sister Stella, Neelu Kohli, Rose Jacob, Anita Sharma and Bharat Ratan – for instilling in her the ethics which helped her evolve as an individual. Read on...

Wanted to experience the real world
I’m sure this happens to every student – when you are in school, you don’t understand how important that phase is. For, you are desperate to move out of it to experience what’s in store for you in the real world. I was no different. As a student, I was also keen on knowing what lay in the world of experience. This thought made what my teachers and sisters said, ‘You will always miss your school days’ unacceptable. Years later, when I visited my alma mater, I knew how much I missed it. In fact, when I was approached by the school authorities to attend the special function, my reaction was ‘I don’t want to bore the audience with my speech’.

Took school squabbles home
My sisters and I belonged to different houses (kingdom) and I remember we would literally fight if my house lost any of the inter-school competitions. We wouldn’t mind taking the war home as if our lives depended on it. One day we even locked ourselves in the house and had a fist fight. it would become a matter of life and death for us.

Me, a south Delhi girl?
I have stayed in RK Puram (next to Malai Mandir), Vasant Kunj and briefly in Munirka. Earlier, the tag “South Delhi” was restricted to Vasant Vihar. So I don’t know if I’m a south Delhi girl. Munirka did become fashionable later though. I remember when I was in junior school, I would be shunned just because I stayed in Munirka. The general reaction would be, ‘Oh you are from Munirka?’ I stayed in Gurgaon for a brief period. So everybody was convinced that I wasn’t classy. This was the time when many students came from Neeti Bagh and Shanti Niketan.

At 10, I was making rotis
If my sisters would tell me ‘Arrey tumko koi akal nahin hain, tum betho chup chaap’ I would be happy doing that. My sisters are sharper and trendier than me because they had more exposure than I did. I was confined to home because I was the eldest. And with both the parents working, I had several responsibilities to shoulder. At the age of 10, I was making rotis, looking after the house and doing the dishes. I was like a mother to my sisters in the absence of my parents. That made me mature and also boring. But this has helped me earn their respect. Even today, if we all are sitting in one room together and if I just look at them, I know they won’t speak a word.

I’m the most uncool person

When I was a kid, everybody was more bothered about how cool one was. Frankly, I was the most uncool person one could ever imagine. But I’m happy the way I am. I never wanted to turn modern. Modernity to me is a state of mind and not a dress code. Anybody who feels he/she can dress up smartly to be modern doesn’t have an understanding of modernity. I’m not a fashionista but I’m happy. I don’t have skills in fine dining but I’m happy. I would rather eat gol-gappas at a roadside joint than sit in a swanky restaurant and worry about which fork to use.


Aamir Khan is responsible for making me leave my home

I have watched “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” about 45 times because it was all about rebelling against the establishment and Aamir taking a stand. It made the movie a must-watch for me. I think he is responsible for making me leave my home. I was such a die-hard fan of Aamir that I wouldn’t miss even his less popular films. The first time I met him, I didn’t say a word, and he must have thought what a hoity toity kind of person I was. I want to tell him, ‘Dude you cost me a lot of money, I watched your movie about 45 times.’ I haven’t told him ever, even though I have met him umpteen number of times.


Chose acting because...

I never wanted to be a part of the profession in which my parents had any influence. I would feel terrible when my friends or acquaintances would take pride in saying, ‘My parents will get me a job’ or ‘Meri mummy isko jaanti hai’. Fortunately, I have parents who have achieved their ambitions without depending on their mom or dad. I am proud of my parents and want my children to feel the same when they grow up. When I entered politics, I made sure my family’s contribution – my grandfather was a Swayam Sevak in RK Puram and my mother has been in the Jana Sangh – wasn’t the reason to get people’s acceptance. I carved a niche for myself in the political field and gained that respect and acceptance because of my efforts and not for what my mother and grandfather had done.


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