Zarina Wahab says she has saved all the handmade birthday cards that her son Sooraj Pancholi made for her as a child
Sooraj as a child
I remember as a baby he loved Spiderman. When we had gone to the USA and Sooraj bought a Spiderman costume which he would wear and show to guests who came over. Aditya called Sooraj, Gutsy when he was born at the hospital which became his nickname.
Sooraj has always loved animals and we would have lots of pets at home. Our home was like a zoo with stray cats, dogs, tortoises and pigeons picked up from the streets. Any animal that Sooraj found wounded or ill he would bring them home and we could not break his heart by turning them away.
He was a very good child, kabhi hamko koi takleef nahi diya... Only when we went shopping I would request him not to ask me for anything and maybe to irritate me (laughs) he would always ask me to buy him something.
He was a quiet, sensitive, good-natured boy and would always draw me his own hand-crafted cards for my birthday. Even now, he does this and I have saved each card. When Adityaji bought him his first cellphone and Sooraj lost it, he wrote on an entire page, ‘Sorry daddy, I will never ask you for another phone again.’
When we went to USA on a holiday he told me, ‘Amma, if you love me please give me this gift I want. I have seen this dog and I want to bring it home.’ I got it for him.
As a student
Sooraj was a good student at the Learners Academy as a child and then later at St Stanislaus in Bandra. He was good in sports and always came first in running.
Friends first, siblings later
Sooraj is a very loyal friend who will go out of his way to help them. His sister Sana and him are more like friends. They gossip, fight and make up again. When Sana shouts at or back answers me he tells her sternly, ‘Don’t shout at mamma!’ He has not yelled at or back answered me till date.
Unchanged
One thing that hasn’t changed in Sooraj from childhood to now is his loving nature towards animals and his helpful nature. He’s close to both Adityaji and me but he tells Sana more as she’s closer to his age. He was very close to my mother.
Unforgettable
Sooraj never told us that he wanted to be an actor. Mere saamne kabhi nahi bola. Suddenly one day he told me that he was working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali (who lives in our building) as an AD. Sooraj said, ‘Kaam toh karna hai lekin mujhe aapka ya kisika sifarish nahi chahiye.’ He has been close to Salman since childhood. Once we had all gone to watch a Michael jackson show and Salman had taken Arpita on his shoulders. When he saw the crowd pushing around Sooraj as he was too small and Soraj couldn’t see anything on stage, he took Sooraj too on his shoulders. Uss waqt bhi diya, aur aaj bhi Salman kaandhe de rahe hai Sooraj ko... (gets emotional).
Always a child
I always tell Sooraj — be the sky that everybody wants to look up to and not the garden that everybody likes to walk on. Don’t hurt anybody. No matter how and what you say, it matters. I don’t have to tell him much, it’s inborn in Sooraj. Woh bahut suljha hua bachcha hai and he knows what he wants to do. I never give my children advice as they are grown up today. But I always worry about them even now...
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 "Zarina Wahab & Sooraj Pancholi")
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