This one is a teeny bopper experience. I was having coffee in Khan Market's tiny Barrista outlet. It is so tiny that if you don't watch out, you could be rubbing elbows with the person sitting just behind you. (Well, the sitting arrangements are such that there are two cramped parallel rows separated by a thin strip that is the passageway.) And what better luck than this if the person you are actually rubbing elbows is none other than India's most eligible bachelor? So I had!

The man was in his crisp white kurta and jeans, and two friends. I was trying to adjust my chair. Unfortunately, in this case it wasn't the elbows that was the pain. What was, were the chairs so tightly adjusted to each other that I couldn't move for the life of me. A little irritated, I tried to get up and tell the gentleman to move his ass a bit. As I turned, my attitude changed, well, dramatically, at seeing the charming Rahul Gandhi who seemed equally perplexed at the goings-on. He smiled and moved a bit... A fine afternoon, I told my friend Geeta. Never mind the rush and the space or the lack of it.

So what do you do when you meet a guy women raved about. I, too, was a part of the fan following. After all, RG has the looks, the charisma of belonging to India's most distinguished family. Here was a guy exposed to generations of wealth and power. But more than that, it is his low profile and very private self that is fascinating about him. He didnt come with a posse of security men unlike Omar Abullah, who has a battalian following him wherever he goes. The next 10 minutes were spent debating whether we should break the ice before we leave.The proximity was tempting.

Too proud to initiate a conversation, I took a backseat as my extrovert, confident friend took over. "Hi Rahul" and with that complimented him on his latest electioneering ventures. The guy got up and fully acknowledged her. Gaining a little confidence, I joined the conversation. Told him why he should go to the northeast and how his father was so popular with women there that they voted for him chanting one word 'bha briew' (handsome in Khasi). The guy laughed, then asked where in the northeast I came from. What was meant to be a quick 'hi' ended up being a long conversation. Am sure, the women around were wishing the boot was on the other foot.

Finally, I told him we had to take a picture so I could tell my friends that I had a date with the scion of the Gandhi family. One more loud laugh. And with that we went click click click with our mobile phones. He even suggested we stood by the door for better result of the pictures. Photo session over, we cheekily told him "to go back to his cold coffee." A giggling Geeta and I then left an obliging RG at Barrista. We had our flirty 15 minutes of fame.

Later that night, I told Geeta, soon the papparazi will haunt me. The story will be, "they met at Barrista.... and then they lived happily ever after..." Phone rings, friend asks, "did you morph the pictures?" Killjoy!

3 comments:

QueSeraSera said...

I think RG needs a lesson or two in photograpy.Never let brightlight be the background unless you have a powerful flash to neutralize the light.If the picture was taken with the light behind the camera the picture would have come out better.Light accentuate's the subject better when used in the background.My 2 cents.

Unknown said...

just like he needs a lesson in history..

like the blog, indira.. especially the snaps.. :) shall strive to come back and stay updated on the headlines and straplines here :)

Unknown said...

Howdy pardner,
Skimming over yr April blogs.There were just 3 when i last read them in Jan.Man,you sure have grown into a mini institution by yourself,a cottage industry ! Attagirl !
Will update myself in a day or two.Keen to read Dylan's capers !
Have told Manu to go thru it too.
Ciao Keep growing and in case u need temps to take over yr workload we offer our services !!!!

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