/> After decades of solitude Neena Gupta has finally found marital bliss with Vivek Mehra, a partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers. But now begins the real struggle to bring together the two most important people in her life, her daughter Masaba and her husband.

Apparently 19-year old Masaba who's a as self-willed as her mother once used to be has made it clear that she and Vivek Mehra to his family home and business in Delhi.

Neena who doesn't have much of a career in Mumbai would happily settle down in domestic ecstacy in Delhi.

But Masaba remains her first priority and she has made that very clear to her husband.

Speaking as forthrightly on the subject as she's wont to on any aspect of her life Neena says, "Much as I'm thrilled with the new developments in my life Masaba is my top concern. She always will be.

I can't leave her alone in Mumbai where Masaba is studying fashion designing. So I guess I'll be shuttling between Delhi and Mumbai."

What she leaves unspoken is the fact that Neena is completely enamoured of her role as a wife.

"It hasn't been easy for us to get married. Vivek and I were seeing each other for six years. But his divorce had to come through before we could make it legal.

The marriage took me completely by surprise. We had gone to the US to attend his nephew's engagement, when like a surprise birthday party, he sprang a surprise wedding on me. There was a pundit, a fire, the works..."

Neena's voice grows warm with the bliss of having experienced a joy she waited so long for. For the first time Neena, habituated to leading the hermetic life of a single mother, has discovered the joys of a large joint - family.

"Vivek's family in Delhi brims over with warmth. They've welcomed me with open arms, made me feel a part of the family in no time. I just love the husstlebustle of the ladies in the house and would love to be part of it."

However Masaba a stubborn young Scorpio (she shares the same birthday as Esha Deol) is not quite ready to make a move into Neena's marital euphoria.

Apparently the sensitive girl is still desirous of reaching out to her biological father, the West Indian cricketer Vivian Richards.

Speaking on her daughter's father for the first time Neena confesses, "Vivek and Masaba are friends, yes. Both me and Masaba have known Vivek for six years. So there's a great deal of comfort. But you're right.

Masaba is in touch with Viv. He is her father. But Vivek is very close to Masaba. Their relationship cannot be defined at the moment, though she's very fond of him."

While Masaba comes to terms with the new developments in her mother's life Neena has no choice but to wait it out, and continue to make Mumbai her home-base.

She admits she doesn't have much of a career in Mumbai.

"The tv channels don't want what I want to do. And I don't want to do what they want me to. So there's a kind of deadend in my career on television.

People still remember me and Kanwaljeet in my serial Saans. But where is the opportunity now to make something like that? Kanwaljeet and I are being brought into a serial as a couple."

In addition Neena has two films up for release. "I play Mithun Chakbraborty's wife in Veer and a pivotal role in Aijaz Khan's The White Elephant. I'm also finally directing a soon. The script should be ready in a couple of weeks. I'll play the lead."

But at 49, it's a different kind of lead Neena is looking for in her newly-married life.