A very minor glitch though...this was to be speedier than the much in fashion Speed Dating and there were thousands waiting for their moment with HIM.So much for my private time !! Hmmph !!
Nevertheless.
One look at the length was enough to get me rethinking about any affectionate thoughts
I might have for this man in question.
One enquiring look at Mom ...(Did i forget to mention it was a chaperoned date ??) and a searing glance later i just plodded to the end of the queue.
The beginning was well , just the beginning of an endless line of ,wait a minute, did i see it right or was it indeed a line of baldies.
There i was looking over the eggheads ,trying to figure out how to kill time , patiently chewing my nails when voila !!
I did have an interesting task ahead of me.
So for the next couple of hours while I was rooted to the spot , I was on a quest to find the most rounded head , quite a few were vying for the prize and I had almost decided the winner (A middle aged uncle with 3 kids in tow ) when I heard chants of 'Govinda Govinda' ...
Er...what was it again ??? Although I can expect to hear such a thing in Mumbai , I don't think the people here think beyond Rajnikanth and i had every reason to be nonplussed.
Ma to the rescue !!! Apparently this was some nickname among the thousands that this guy has and the Bollywood actor of the same name wasn't making an appearance here after all.
Hmmm...he had a lot of nicknames ,so why not add another to the list , but maybe something more hip this time :)
"Venky Venky !!! "...uh oh ....did i just say something terribly insensitive ???
A mob had joined my Ma in what was obviously a very cold glare . Yes i could feel all the daggers and not really sure why I was at their receiving end.
So much for creativity ,eh ??
I wondered what the Bard would have said about this whole naming business ...brings his whole 'A rose by any other name...' theory to deliberation.
Anyways, i zipped up my mouth and shifted my attention to this particularly interesting pebble near my feet and till the next series of chant that became my center of attention.
I managed to mollify Ma( and the other fanatics) when i joined in the chorus and that was when the jostling began.One didn't need to move , the mob saw to it that you make it to the sanctum sanctorum but whether or not in a single , untwisted piece is up to your Karma.
I realised mine had to be a really bad 'Karma' when I saw something similar to my arm waving at me from behind someone else's back...I got it back after some Herculean effort.
I never knew my elbow could be so useful :) .
A whack there, a jab here and lo !!! Job well done gal.
By this time i was neck deep in doubt over my motivations for this visit and the muck i was walking in rightfully added to it.One would have thought that for someone as rich and popular,the path leading to him would be clean.That we had to walk barefoot was bad enough, but trying to avoid the several eatables,coconut husk and a few strange things i dared not guess was toooo much.
A pedicure would be more of a necessity than luxury on going back and I mentally jotted down a reminder to take an appointment for the same ASAP.
Inspite of having made a resolution not to check the time, i couldn't help myself when after what had felt like an eternity of standing , i was still nowhere close to my destination.It had been three hours already and my already thin patience was almost threadbare.
But i guess Venky got a whiff of intensity of my impatience ,because a violent push later i found myself face to face with him.
Man !!! this guy was something ...
i) Definitely handsome - Did i mention Tall and Dark too ;)
ii) Rich ...no doubt about it !!!
iii) Efficacious - The throng says it all.
No wonder then that a cordon's always required around him...i could see people all around ready to throw themselves at him.
I managed a quick greeting and a few whispered nothings before a nudge took me outta the cubbyhole.
What !!! That's it ???
I had 2 options - to voice my irritation at the suddenness of it all or to sulk
And the braveheart that i was ...i chose to sulk !!!
My efforts at any form of protest got lost between some more chants of 'Govinda' and before I knew I was out in the courtyard .
Heck !!! All this brouhaha and all that I was left with was a 'laddoo'.But one bite into the sumptous sweet and I knew why nobody else had objected to the abject conditions.
That laddoo did well to appease me and I ended my date on a sweet note .But whether I want to go for another?well...lemme not commit to anything now...but one things for certain...if there is a next time I'm taking that pedicure appointment beforehand :) .
