Namaskar dear readers,
It feels surreal to be writing on this platform as Maitri Manthan again. This blog was very special to us and we poured our hearts and souls into it for two years. We met some interesting people, made connections that we can never forget. As I look back, it’s hard to believe that it has been a decade since our blogging journey came to an abrupt halt.
Maitri Manthan was the pen name chosen by me and my friend. She was an essential part of this blog, she would accompany me to interviews, edit the articles, suggest changes and was someone I could share ideas with. In our mundane life, this blog gave us immense joy. The memories are bittersweet as life took an unexpected turn for both of us in the later half of 2013. The challenges we faced were profound and completely changed our state of mind. It left us drained, emotionally and mentally. During this time, as writing slowed, the blog we nurtured so passionately took a backseat.
In between, our YouTube channel got flooded with strikes and claims. I had a month-long interaction trying to get our first strike resolved. But in the end intent does not matter and the truth is, though we never gained a single paisa from this venture, these videos did not belong to us. However, that interaction discouraged me further, made all the effort seem meaningless. Frankly I am surprised the channel is still up, I half expected it to be shut down by now. All this while I was in touch with Shashi Kapoor ji, I used to share my struggles with him and he would always encourage me while he was suffering from Parkinson’s. His passing in April 2018 had a deep impact on me and I did not look back till now.
It has taken me 10 years to get back on track. Thanks to my family who stood by me and with the grace of Shri Ram, I am in a better head space now. I had to leave Mumbai and change cities, eventually I moved overseas and rebuilt my life from the ground up. My friend is still in Mumbai. Distance has reduced our interaction but we touch base every now and then.
For all those who read our blog and were concerned about us, we are very sorry for vanishing without a trace. We also owe an apology to the artists and family members we interviewed, who gave us their time but we never published anything. They are – Vijay Kavish ji (Lord Shiva from Ramayan), Gyaneshwar Rai ji (played numerous characters in Ramayan) and Mrs Kiran Khatri ji (Rajkumar Khatri ji’s wife). Maybe some day I will be able to find those recordings.
For the past month or more I have been posting a series on actors from Ramayan on a Facebook Group in Hindi. I am not sure how Maitri Manthan will go forward but for now I will resume with sharing those posts here.
Thank you for taking time to read.
With love and gratitude,
Maitri Manthan
Maitri Manthan 
Very sorry to hear about your struggles on Youtube. I’ve experienced the same with my own channel from many Indian “media” channels uploading entire films and then fraudulently claiming copyright to content they do not own according to my research. It’s a disgusting racket to monetize views for content they have no legal right over, and it affects smaller channels just uploading clips of a few minutes in length trying to illustrate a scene or dance from a particular movie or show. Be well.