For Manaayata Dutt, it’s a gift that’s worth a lot more than all the diamonds in the world. The rose that Sanjay Dutt sent to his wife on her birthday (July 22) is more precious than any gift she has received from him before.

Says a source, “It’s been more than two months that Sanju has been in Yerawada Jail but he has been counting the days to Maana’s birthday. One day Sanju saw a red rose blooming in the jail small garden, and even though it was many days to her birthday, he plucked the rose as it was rare. He took it back to his cell, dried it in between pages of a book. He also wrote a beautiful love poem and sent it along with the rose. It takes a few days for letters to reach so he counted the number of days and posted it last Tuesday.”

Manaayata received it last Saturday. “The simple gesture and the thought and love behind it, left her in tears. She just couldn’t hold back her emotions. Every Saturday, Dutt’s lawyer meets him in jail. When he came to meet Sanju on July 20, Maana had passed on the message that she received his letter and rose. 

When the lawyer relayed the message, Sanju too got emotional and couldn’t hold back his tears,” the source says adding that no matter how busy or exhausted Manaayata is after a gruelling day’s work, she still writes a letter to her husband every day. “She jots down the day’s events as if she were speaking to him on the phone. Sanju and Maana don’t want to miss a precious minute that they are away from each other. Maana also sends letters written by family and friends to him.”