Normally the Bachchans have a rigid rule about not mixing business with pleasure. But on Thursday morning, when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan landed in Mumbai from Paris, she broke the golden rule when she dropped in unannounced, to meet Abhishek at the Reliance Web World where he was doing out-of-town press interviews.

Says a source, “Lately Abhishek and Aishwarya have had very little time together. After their short anniversary holiday, Abhishek got busy with the shooting of Abhinay Deo’s Game in Greece while Aishwarya returned to India for a stint of Robot. She was then in Paris to honor the Brazilian tennis champ Gustavo Kuerten for his work with disadvantaged children.”

Says a source, “At the charity dinner that followed, Aishwarya bonded with Steffi Graf and Mary Pierce and kept missing Abhishek because he was a big fan of both.”

The minute she landed in Mumbai from Paris, Aishwarya asked the family driver to take her wherever Abhishek was. A first for her because normally she doesn’t intrude when her husband is working. Even when she joins him on long outdoors locations, she never hangs around the sets when he’s shooting.

Says a friend of Aishwarya, “This time she made an exception because she was missing Abhishek all the way from Paris to Mumbai. And besides, Abhishek was doing promotional work for their film together. She not only met him but also joined impromptu in the talk with their fans on radio from Jaipur and Ahmedabad.”

Says a family friend, “The funny part is, the Bachchans are never together these days. Now that Aishwarya is home, the senior Bachchan left for Paris, the city that Aishwarya left yesterday. In fact, their flights must have crossed each other.”