Smriti Defies Doc's Orders

Smriti defies doc's orders

I just couldn't afford a longer holiday," says television's strongest female icon after a serious illness. Reliving the nightmare, Smriti says, "Just before Diwali, I started getting high fever. I kept treating it as any viral fever… until I went to Bhavnagar to perform my play. It was son's birthday. My fever shot up, and I returned to the hotel shivering. That's when doctors diagnosed with a dengue and typhoid combined. Even my illnesses are so grand."

On November 4, Smriti was admitted to the hospital. After seven days of enforced rest, she returned home, only to pull off the intravenous drips and get back to work. "The doctors advised me to rest for a month. But what can I do? I've two serials on air. Plus I've just started my production house which needs full attention. In fact I had meetings even in hospital. But I couldn't possibly shoot from my hospital bed. The weekly soap Thodsi Zameen Thodasa Aasman survived only because we had a bank of episodes. But the daily Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was in trouble."

Ekta Kapoor managed to keep the show going by focussing on Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan's tracks in the plot. "But I couldn't delay returning to work any longer," says Smriti. "A serial isn't just the production company's responsibility. It's also my look-out. If Kyunki… suffered, so did I. I had to get back to work because I'm a workaholic. Besides, I couldn't have my children see me lying around helplessly. My son was especially disturbed. He kept asking, 'Why does mama have all those needles sticking into her?' In hospital, I missed my kids the most. I had no opportunity to miss my husband. Zubin was with me throughout. He's a workaholic too. But he put aside everything to be near me, when I was ill."

The one thing that Smriti realised during her illness was that she needed to make time for her husband. "Multi-tasking is fine. But is it serving its final purpose? We're so busy giving ourselves to our work, kids and family that my husband and I don't realise we're never together. This illness made me feel that there's more to my life than my work. I've decided to take at least one holiday with my husband every year."