‘From day one, I have been dad and mom’
Walk into 62 year-old Anil Mani and his 22 year-old son Nikhil’s home and you will spot colourful fish swimming in the an aquarium and a well-used carpentry workstation near the balcony door. Laughter, light jokes and back slapping fills the room as the father-son duo poses for the camera. Slowly, they forget we are there, and indulge in a game of arm wrestling. Nikhil inspects a chair seat that Mani has fixed and points out mistakes. “You haven’t stapled the felt properly on the sides,” he tells Mani, who is a voiceover artiste. Mani then proceeeds to teach Nikhil how to use the stapling gun.

Vir Nakai shares a happy moment with his 17 month-old daughter Gia in her play tent at their home in Andheri (W). Pics/satyajit Desai