Waving a wand of goodness

This graceful head honcho, who is in semi-retirement mode has found her calling with a social service venture

Vandana Malik was known as the head honcho of a leading media group way before people started recognising her as Imran Khan’s mother-in-law. In a self-imposed semi-retirement phase currently, she speaks to us about her passion for giving back to the society, her love for food and how she wouldn’t have found a better husband for her daughter. Presently associated with Madhavi Goenka’s NGO Helping Hands, she now helps her friend raise funds for providing accommodation, treatment, education and other facilities to children with lesser or no means. “Associating with this cause was more out of passion. I wanted to connect with my roots and give back to the society,” Vandana says.

As an executive director for a leading media house, her work involved keeping tabs on the functioning of the group and constant brainstorming. She was also a part of the IMPACT 50 Most Influential Women in Indian media, advertising and marketing in 2012, “I’m a freelancer now and work on and off. The best thing about technology is that I can get the scripts in my inbox and all my work-related material on my computer and can work from home. This gives me a lot of time to spend with my granddaughter Imara,” Vandana points out.

Vandana recently chronicled her battle with weight loss on a website in the form of a series, “Loosing weight is a vicious cycle, I have been trying for 20 years now to maintain my weight, and end up gaining a lot when I’m holidaying. Once you know how to consume sugar in moderation you can never have weight issues, but my weighing scale shoots up each time, after a holiday. My sweet tooth kills the joy. Avantika and I can’t do without sweets and we keep telling each other to control our cravings but it’s just not possible. But no regrets, there are ways to loose weight,” she says.

Though her weighing scale does not paint a very nice picture after her holidays, Vandana is an itinerant traveller at heart. “I love travelling. London is beautiful. People say Kashmir is not safe and secure but that’s not true. It’s the most beautiful place, so is South India. Europe is equally wonderful. I recently got a chance to visit Japan with my girl gang minus our husbands, of course, and we loved it. It’s fun to be around like-minded people, with no pressure whatsoever,” she says.

A doting mother, Vandana feels Imran is the best for a daughter, “We wouldn’t have found a better husband and a wonderful family for Avantika. They are caring human beings and are grounded to their values,” she says. Does she share some parenting tips with her daughter, we wonder. “Imara is priceless. Nothing can be compared to the happiness Avantika has given me by gifting her. Most definitely, it’s up to her. There was no Google in our age and whatever we learnt was through our experience. One has to simply go with the flow and follow instincts,” she says.

Apart from her freelancing and travelling expeditions, what helps her unwind “Strangely, I enjoy working out very much. Since the time television came into the bedroom, books have taken a backseat. I do visit Otters Club Library often. I love watching Travel and Living and like reading books which have more to them, like Avirook Sen’s Aarushi. I’m not a fashion-savvy person, more of an online shopper. Unless I have to pick a fabric or pick something exquisite, I head to the stores. London is my favourite destination for shopping,” she says.