Deepika misses sister's golf tournament

Jan 21, 2009 Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Deepika Padukone was so busy with the premieres of "Chandni Chowk To China" that she had to miss her sister Anisha's golf tournament in Pune.

"Yes Anisha, who is five years younger to me and the baby of the family, was playing in Pune just when I left for my premieres. I'd have definitely liked to watch her," Deepika told IANS.

"But then maybe having family around to watch her play would make her self-conscious. She needs to find her own identity away from the family cocoon and for that we need to leave her along to swim in the waters and face the storms. So in a way it was good that I wasn't around when she played," she added.

Deepika travelled all across the US, Toronto and London for the premieres all alone.

"Why do you say that?" she said. "I had the 'Chandni Chowk To China' team with me. We were hopping from city to city. The only sleep I got was on flight," she said.

"We have been trained to be self-dependent," says Deepika.

"Both me and my sister have been taught to be self-dependent. I am 23 and very proud of it. I'm young and raring to go. Age has nothing to do with maturity. I started travelling alone at a very young age (12) as a badminton player. That made me feel responsible from a very young age.

"I learnt to travel in a team, share dormitories and bathrooms. You could say I've roughed it out. My parents made sure my sister and I were brought up with normal working-class values," said Deepika.

The actress turned 23 Jan 5, but says says she isn't into celebrations.

"I've never been the partying type. I'm not much into celebrations ever since I moved to Mumbai to become an actress. I don't have any friends to call over. Earlier, when I was in Bangalore, I used to call all my friends over for my birthday over and then take them bowling or to watch a movie…

"Now all my free days are spent with my family. My entire family comes down from Bangalore to Mumbai for my birthday every year. It becomes a family reunion time. They came to visit me around my birthday. My dad, mom and sister were here. We also paid a visit to Tirupati for my birthday this year."

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Chandni Chowk To China