Others wake up early in the morning to run the hard yards, Rita wakes up and plays with her dogs, a mastiff and a pug. A more relaxing and fun filled way to start the day could certainly not be possible. However, her life is filled with a great deal of physical activity that relaxes her keeps her very fit.
As an architect and interior designer, Rita starts her day at 9 and visits four sites everyday. She makes it a point to park her car some distance away from the site which then requires her to walk some distance. This is done 24 times in a week as she visits her jobs spread all over 24 sites across Goa.
Architecture keeps her happy and this passion is displayed in her reading material. It’s all about architecture, the developments and the latest trends. She does not care to read anything apart from what is very close to her heart.
Music for her is a soulful experience. Lyrics have to convey meaning. Elton John is at the top, John Denver, Cliff Richards and yes the king himself, Elvis Presley remain favorites. With Elton John, his sentimental songs carry a lot of meaning for her. However when it comes to movies, it is a dramatic change in style. She loves her action movies. Bruce Willis and Will Smith are favorites. She also likes her English arty movies. As a citizen of the country that produces the largest number of movies in the world, she loves Naseerudin Shah, Smita Patil arty movies. She is woman of substance.
Presently in addition to all the work she does renovating, redesigning houses she is part of a team producing a movie called Soul Curry starring Jackie Shroff and Seema Biswas set in Goa. As if that was not enough she is the editor in chief of a lifestyle magazine called Abraxas lifestyle which is not distributed publicly but circulated amongst an elite selected circle of people.
As she repeatedly reminded this journalist that she walked talked and lived architecture, her interest for food was more functional. She said “I eat to live and not live to eat”. However she admitted to a weakness for Italian cuisine with pasta being quite a favorite. She hastened to add however that she liked her simple dal chawal too. Bistoro in Goa was a favorite restaurant while Tres in Delhi was another haunt outside the State.
Personal tragedy a few years earlier has meant having time to herself. She loves to drive around enjoying nature and driving in by lanes to check what was going on in the corners of the State. She does lot of social work and is presently working on an old people’s home which will also provide refuge to orphans.
An ex client of hers has gifted 5 acres of land and the project should break ground hopefully next year. As she puts it “There is a connection between old people and children, the old stay happy and the young get the love and affection that has been missing so far in their lives.”
In five years time she hopes to doing so much more social work. She would like to help the young. Accordingly she hopes to set up a Gurukul for young aspiring architects. In this system masters could come and give master classes on various aspects of the craft. Students will learn from iron mongers and others involved in the trade. It will not be bookish knowledge but relevant information for today’s scenario. She ended by saying she was a very positive person despite having experienced great personal tragedy and life had not pulled her down. Life she said was meant to be lived.
