Gita Chandra

Gita Chandra (née Vermas) was the wife of Haresh Chandra and the mother of Rani Chandra. She ran her own flower shop, called Bloomin' Lovely.

Early life
Gita's parents, the Vermas, moved in the 1960s from India to England. They settled in Nottingham. From there the family had spread across the country. (PROSE: Day of the Clown) Gita was a Gemini. (TV: Secrets of the Stars)

Gita met Haresh at a museum where she was seeking refuge from the rain. (TV: The Curse of Clyde Langer) They fell in love and got married, but Gita did not enjoy their honeymoon in Brussels. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

Arrival on Bannerman Road
Gita, Haresh and their daughter, Rani, moved to Bannerman Road when children were being abducted by Odd Bob the Clown. When Gita first met Sarah Jane Smith, she told her Rani wanted to be a journalist like Sarah Jane and believed Rani to be doing work experience with Sarah when she was helping defeat the Pied Piper.

Gita was an easy-going, sociable person. In contrast with Maria's mother, she quickly embraced her neighbours from over the road, and saw them as positive influences on her daughter's life. She also appeared to have a strong bond with her husband. She claimed the reason she had recently gained weight was because her husband had a Dawn French fetish. (TV: The Day of the Clown)

She was a Gemini and one of the first to be taken over by Martin Trueman and the Ancient Lights. She became a member of Trueman's inner circle, although she seemed to have no memory of what had happened during the incident after Trueman was defeated. (TV: Secrets of the Stars)

She briefly let Clyde Langer visit Rani but was nearly erased from time until Sarah Jane restored everything. Clyde and Rani in the meantime met an alternate timeline version of her. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

While working in her flower shop she was kidnapped by Mrs Wormwood and put in a trance. Mrs Wormwood did this to catch Sarah Jane's attention. Gita was rescued when the Bane tried to catch and eat Mrs Wormwood alive. She seemed to have no memory of the incident. Later that day, Cal Kilburne went to Sarah Jane's house. She found him and invited him in for coffee. He led her to believe that he was Sarah Jane's nephew but in fact he was Bane. (TV: Enemy of the Bane)

Awareness of aliens
She later attempted to get work from Genetec Systems by placing flowers in the foyer, but was taken by security. She and Haresh escaped and encountered alien Judoon. They returned home and Gita happily exclaimed to Rani and Sarah Jane that she saw aliens. Rani took her inside for a cup of tea. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon)

Gita met Sarah Jane's new boyfriend, Peter Dalton, and took an immediate shine to him, proclaiming him "dishy". She later attended Sarah Jane and Peter's wedding, also providing floral arrangements for the ceremony. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

In September 2009, Haresh and Gita Chandra stayed several days in Danemouth to visit relatives. Meanwhile Rani stayed at Sarah Jane's house. (AUDIO: Wraith World)

Before Luke left for University of Oxford, Sarah Jane brought him some boxes to pack his things into. Sarah Jane told him Gita had given them to her and had also offered to help pack. (TV: The Nightmare Man) Gita also came to Luke's second farewell party, that Luke threw before he left. She went there together with Haresh and Rani. (PROSE: The Nightmare Man)

In 2010, Gita dragged Haresh to B.U.R.P.S.S and explained her meeting with two aliens. When they returned home, Gita saw Androvax in Sarah Jane's driveway, and sent Haresh over to check it out. She called Ocean Waters to tell her about the sighting, and arrived at Sarah Jane's house with Melvin and her to detect aliens. She was later used as a host body for Androvax to reach the Vault. Rani convinced him to leave Gita's body and Gita witnessed Mister Dread transmat the Veil ship into space, saving Earth. Gita was going to tell everyone until Dread, under Sarah Jane's instruction, wiped her mind of all of her alien encounters. Sarah Jane and the others convinced her that they went on a picnic so she did not recognise Ocean and Melvin. (TV: The Vault of Secrets)

When Haresh believed that Sarah Jane was grieving and denying the Doctor's death, he asked Rani if she remembered when her grandfather died. Rani said the Gita had washed everything in her house, even the walls and Rani herself. (TV: Death of the Doctor)

When most people were removed from Earth, Gita also disappeared. (TV: The Empty Planet)

Gita was with Haresh when Luke caused Mr White's hologram meteor to be seen by everyone on Earth, which defeated Ruby White. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)

In 2011, when a baby was delivered to Sarah Jane by the Shopkeeper, Gita assumed that Sarah Jane had begun fostering. She brought flowers for the child, named Sky, surprised to see that she was now a preteen. Sarah Jane made a cover story. (TV: Sky)

Gita opened a second Bloomin' Lovely store at the White Cross shopping mall. On the opening day she was kidnapped by the Veritas who found out that the memories of the aliens she had met were erased. They showed Gita's experiences and feelings to Rani and Sarah Jane. They felt exactly the same as Gita has felt when she had seen the aliens. Rani and Sarah Jane found out that Gita was frightened and feared about her daughter when she first saw Androvax. Sarah Jane and Rani had to rethink their decision about deleting Gita's memories of the alien meetings. They came to the conclusion that it was the right decision and that they only did it to protect Gita. Later Gita, Rani and Sarah Jane returned to the mall. Gita did not remember that she had been kidnapped. (AUDIO: Judgement Day)

Later life
Gita attended the memorial for Sarah Jane, providing the guests with sausage rolls. Because she had to leave for ten minutes to collect them from the kitchen with Haresh, she missed the Trickster's attack on the service. Towards the end of the service, Gita spoke with Luke, Clyde and Rani about her feelings towards Sarah Jane, and how the "street [was] very quiet without her". (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane)

Eventually, she became a grandmother to Rani's son, Shuresh, and a great-grandmother to Shuresh's children. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Personality
Gita was a friendly person who was always kind to people, inviting her daughter's friends for dinner. She called everyone she talked to "my darling", even Mister Dread. Like Chrissie Jackson, Gita also seemed to have problems getting Sarah Jane's name right, often referring to her simply as "Sarah". (TV: The Day of the Clown et al) She was very nosey (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) and bossed her husband around. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon)

She cared deeply for Rani and even knew that Rani, Clyde and Sarah Jane shared a secret. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith) She was fond of Sarah Jane and commented on how she was a perfect mother to Luke (TV: Sky) and considered her to be "[everyone's] best friend". (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane)

Unlike her husband, she got on well with Clyde and she was also more open minded and reckless than Haresh, a trait visible after her first alien encounter. (TV: Prisoner of the Judoon, The Vault of Secrets)

Rani worried about disappointing her parents. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)

Behind the scenes

 * Gita's name was originally "Sundra Rakhit".