Tarak Mehta is 'booked'!

One look at the 79-year-old fragile man sitting in a corner with a walking stick and you wonder, is this the same Tarak Mehta who penned the incidents for the popular serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah when you are introduced to him?

Well, believe it or not, this old man who has made many people laugh with his humourous writings and one-act plays that he acted in, is not in the pink of health now and nor is he the happy man we would expect him to be.

He is sweet, no doubt, but apart from suffering from glaucoma (an eye disease) his personal life also doesn't seem to be rocking. For those of you who don't know, Tarak was here in the city with his second wife (it was a love marriage, this time around too).

He says, "My ex-wife (first wife) stays in the same building where we stay. From my first marriage, I have a daughter who is staying abroad. I have two grandchildren from her - Kushan and Shaili. I don't have any children from my second marriage." Getting a little emotional, Tarak says, "I keep missing them (his grandchildren). They come here every year to spend time with us and we talk every week. But what else can I do?
These are the stark realities of life."

Sad that at this age, when he needs his family and wants to spend time with his grandchildren, they are not there by his side. Complaining of insomnia and poor eyesight, the feeble writer reveals, "My publisher is re-printing 80 books of mine and launching it to mark my 80th birthday this year.

There are 72 books that were already printed before and there are eight books that are new. Three books have been made out of the columns that I wrote for Divya Bhaskar and the remaining books have been compiled from the stories that I wrote for Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah."

Tarak's best-selling books
* 2010 Na Undha Chasman
* Aa Duniya Panjarapole
* Action Reply ½
* Albelun America Vanthelun America
* Bagicha Ni Hadvi Havama
* Bahero Hase Be Vay…!
* Champaklal Tapuni Jugalbandhi
* Betaj Batali Baj Popatlal Taraj