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ShareMumbai: She's quite aware that most people don't recognise her, probably because she lives in London. Naresh 'Jet Airways' Goyal's daughter is a regular bubbly, talkative girl just out of her teens, but has her defenses up at the mention of the word 'press'. "She hates being in the limelight. But this time, I am not going to let her go. Baby, can you please come on over?" screams Shabana Azmi as Namrata trudges up for her first ever interview.
"She is my Godchild - she calls me M2 (mother number 2). She is the one who organised everything, got her friends to work for me and spread the word on Twitter and Facebook about the 'best designer' contest. She is the woman in-charge here," says Shabana about her latest initiative - a contest among design college students in Mumbai that will be judged and mentored by Manish Malhotra and Anita Dongre. The profits will go towards setting up another hi-tech learning centre at Mijwan, a tiny village in UP that Kaifi Azmi adopted and is now being nurtured by Shabana.
"You know something, I'd never seen a village before she took me to Mijwan. It was a life-changing experience for me," says Namrata. "How much is sixty bucks for you, tell me? I lose that kind money from my purse everyday and never bother about it. I was amazed when I found out that there are people who earn that much everyday. It's not the poverty that moved me, it's the people who live their lives with so much dignity."
While Namrata spends most of her time in London, she's proud of her roots. "I consider myself a Mumbai girl because I was born here. I am studying films in London and am a fan of Hindi films. My idea of a village till now was what I saw in Lagaan. I was so wrong," she says.
