“I’ve cried so much that my face has changed. I look like a different person,” says yesteryear actress Vijayta Pandit and composer Aadesh Shrivastava’s wife for many years, as she struggles to maintain her composure as her husband battles for his life.
“I can’t describe what I am going through. I don’t know how I am coping. Our two sons, Anivesh and Avitesh, are keeping me from crumbling under pressure. My family (brothers, composers Jatin and Lalit Pandit) are also a great support,” says Vijayta.
Recalling with horror her husband’s sudden relapse a month ago, she says, “We had gone to America and had just returned when he suddenly started bleeding from his nose. It wouldn’t stop. We rushed him to the hospital. That’s been his home for the last one month.
“I am running from the hospital to our residence all day long, trying to remain sane even as the doctors have given up on him,” Vijayta breaks down and weeps inconsolably.
No support from film fraternity
The family is undergoing tremendous financial hardship, with one life-saving injection costing Rs 12 lakh.
And somewhere along the way, the family has been shunned by the film fraternity.
In 2011, when Aadesh was first diagnosed with cancer, he had told DC, “Falling ill so suddenly was traumatic. But the cold-shoulder treatment I got from the people with whom I’ve closely worked with for years, has caused me even more damage than the disease itself. Nobody came to visit me after I fell sick.”
