Live for today--make the best of it’—is the mantra of ‘wow’ model-actress, travel-lover Shailja Sharma

During the corona-pandemic crisis when all TV and movie-shootings were cancelled or indefinitely stalled, a large number of upcoming actor-artistes of the Bollywood film-fraternity, were compelled to return to the safety of their respective distant home-towns . Among those who returned is stunning model, trained-actor and travel-buff Shailja Sharma, who has been on a semi-sabbatical of sorts, securely ensconced in her hilly-paradise town Solan (H.P.) - Chaitanya Padukone

But she is planning to stage her comeback, very soon. The exuberant yet sensitive multi-faceted actor Shailja (aka Sherlly) who has a string of coveted ‘beauty-queen’ titles ( including ‘Miss Beautiful Face’) to her credit and who loves to strum her Spanish-guitar-strings, candidly shared some topical thoughts and views with bollyy.com thru an exclusive e-mail interview. Over to Shailja :

What was positively different this time during this Diwali-2020 ?

Diwali being my most favourite festival among all, am so happy I'm home celebrating it with my own family after so many years. I think this year every festival has made everyone realize that no matter how far we go from our family, it is the time when we miss our family the most. And happiest when we celebrate it with them. Such a euphoric joy, lighting small lamps, sprinkling rangoli patterns and indulging in mirthful homely banter.

What else ?

Most beautiful night-view was from my terrace where even distant places could be seen twinkling bright like stars. There were fire-crackers and sky shots bursting –but this time comparatively there was much lesser noise and air-pollution. The best part was to relish my hometown ethnic dishes asquli, patande and lushke with bhura (a sweet) which I've been missing all these years.

Did you re-discover some of your hidden talents during the difficult lock-down phase ?

During the stay-at-home (lockdown) phase, I spent clicking my own pictures and was partly busy in my own-home responsibilities. In fact I've been planning to start making travelling Vlogs. That is when once life is back to normal and travelling to places is possible. Because I am an enthusiastic travel person . Often, I observe tourists who seem to be so confused when it comes to self-discovery-sight-seeing. So it'll be helpful for them too. My first travel story will be the Himachal region. Simply because I want the world to know how beautiful, untouched, serene and so peaceful this (H.P.) paradise-place is.

What rattling reality-checks has the corona pandemic brought about ?

Undoubtedly, covid pandemic has already changed people's mind and their lifestyles. It has made us realise how important our family and home is. That it is possible to give up on materialistic, luxurious life of expensive entertainment, premium shopping and random traveling for no rhyme or reason. Almost everybody can lead a simple austere life. Evolution of man has made him more tech-savvy, but also materialistic. Besides the values of family bonding

we also adapted overnight to the work-from-home (WFH) culture. Nothing is certain in this life and life is really so unpredictable. I have always believed in living-for-today and making-the-best of it.

What are you optimistically looking forward to in 2021 ? The very first thing I pray and hope for is the effective corona-vaccines to be released and distributed to the people globally, as soon as possible. All affected countries need to be alleviated from the suffering , to enable accelerated economic growth while recovering their colossal losses. All of us have been through really tough times. Let's not forget that we have come this far and we should never give up hope, and positivity.

Especially the belief that tomorrow will be better than yesterday and we will make it better together. My expectations are, that 2021 will bring back all the happiness and joy that was abruptly lost and make the world a happier and a better place to live in—for all of us.