Hands-down the favourite Bachchan in the Bachchan household is little Aaradhya who turned a grand 7 this week. But she actually behaves like someone much older and wiser. Says a close friend of the family, “Aaradhya has the inquisitive mind of a scientist and the calm sensitive temperament of an artiste. At 7, she has the wisdom, etiquette and decorum of someone much older.”
Says doting father Abhishek, “She is quite a little lady. At the same time there is a huge quotient of mischief in her.” The credit for Aaradhya’s sensible balanced upbringing goes to her mother Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who spends every single minute that she has away from her professional commitments with her daughter.
Every day dropping Aaradhya to school and then picking her up again is a routine that remains. A friend of the actress told me, “Unlike the other star kids Aaradhya is not being brought up by her nanny. Most of the actresses grab for their children only when the camera is around. Aishwarya’s world revolves around her. Everything comes after Aaradhya and no sacrifice is too big for her angel. While other star-kids are being packed off to boarding school, Aaradhya isn’t going anywhere.”
Aishwarya once told me, “Picking up my daughter from school, being with her every minute that I can, all this comes very naturally to me. No effort required. This is how my mother was with us (Aishwarya and her brother). When a working woman decides to have a child she must be fully prepared to give the child the attention it needs.”
