This Letter By Guneet Monga To Her ‘Ma’ & ‘Pa’ Reminds Us That Home Is Not Home Without Loved Ones

Guneet Monga is one of the most successful Indian producers, who recently won an Oscar for her Short Subject Documentary, Period. End Of Sentence.

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Started with a small dream in the English department room of @melissa_berton with her school girls of @oakwoodstories for empowering and educating other young girls across the world for better menstruation hygiene. This started 7 years ago with raising money and donating one pad machine… then thought the team should make a movie for better awareness!! @actionindia76 from India helped on ground in putting a machine. @raykaz and @samdavisdp captured all of this so beautifully with @kakarmandakini producing for @sikhya ❤️ . . Today here we are ! All the way to Oscars and have put this story on the map ! One night before the Oscars, whatever may happen…. Team @periodendofsentence is already a winner ! . . more power for all the support and magic @stacey_sher @lisataback . . . This is dedicated to dreamers like each one of you here. Keep inspiring ❤️ @helenyenser @mcmaxam @clairesliney @charlottesilverman @ruby_schiff @aveeybaaby @sophdasch @maggiesophiebrown

A post shared by Guneet Monga (@guneetmonga) on Feb 23, 2019 at 9:44pm PST

This trailblazing woman has battled personal losses at every turn and yet she continues to stand strong.

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#Repost @officialhumansofbombay ・・・ “I’ve lived a life of borrowed dreams. I grew up in Delhi, in a Punjabi middle class family. To the world we were happy–but no one knew what happened behind closed doors. My family was allotted 1 room in a big house. Because of the fight between brothers over property- my mom was suppressed. They abused her… Once, the argument got to a point where they tried to burn her alive-my father called the police, grabbed us & ran out of there. We built our life anew. Eventually, my mom started dreaming of having a 3 bedroom house on a ground floor with 3 steps by the entrance- So specific! I became determined to buy 1 for her. At 16 I started working while balancing schoolwork–I sold cheese on streets, was an announcer at PVR, a DJ, an anchor…you name it! In college, I began coming to Mumbai to work in films. I went from a coordinator, to being a production manager. Whatever I’d earn, I’d give it to my parents for our dream! Slowly we pooled our savings & booked a house. But by the time it was ready, I lost my parents within 6 months of each other. My mom had throat cancer & my dad’s kidneys failed… I was heartbroken. Needing a change, I packed my bags, sold the house & moved to Bombay for work. I channeled my energy into films. My dreams then became my director’s dreams. I was always on my feet & barely slept 4 hrs a day. Each film was a challenge. Crowd-funding, international sales- but I loved it! I wanted to hear my mom’s ‘you did well’ or my dad’s ‘proud of you’. I still remember my father had sold his gold kadaa to send me on my 1st school trip to USA- he wanted me to see the world, no matter how challenging it was for them. So in my happiest times- whether it was at the Oscars or when we produced Gangs of Wasseypur & The Lunchbox.. Or when I launched my production house… all I wanted was my parents beside me. But I know they’re at peace where they are. Someday I’ll see them again & get my ‘well dones.’ But for now, I’m going through life, collecting happy moments for them. I hope they can be proud that I’ve finally stopped borrowing dreams. I’m my own person now & maybe that in itself is a dream come true! “

A post shared by Guneet Monga (@guneetmonga) on Sep 29, 2018 at 7:46am PDT

In an emotionally charged piece that she performed at Kommune’s Spoken Fest 2019, she pens a letter to her parents, talking about her life before and after they left.

She starts her piece by talking about how she and her parents had to leave their ancestral house in Delhi because of domestic violence at home.

And as they moved to Surajkund to start a separate life, the desire – to someday have their own home – kept them waiting for the ‘ideal’ life to being.

After years of struggles – that she looks back at fondly – came the time when finally her mother’s dream house was within reach.

But in an unexpectedly cruel turn of fate, she lost both her parents right before she got the house. The dream house was no longer a home.

Even as she built a life for herself in Mumbai, she still felt the ache to ‘have a home’, and fulfill the dream her parents could never see come alive.

Until finally, years later, she realized that the home she was looking across the globe for, was actually in the memories she’d built with her parents.