I had the biggest meeting of my life this week. On second thought, I wouldn’t like to call it a meeting, as that has an official connotation to it. A friendly banter would be more like it, where obviously for the first couple of minutes I was too dumbstruck to react properly, as I still couldn’t fathom the fact that such a genius wanted to meet me.My hopes were dashed when I couldn’t get in touch with him last week, the same day that I lost my wallet too. On Monday this week, at the bank, while filling an application for a new ATM card, I got to know that he’d lost my number and I was supposed to call him back. I dropped everything and headed straight for a quiet corner. He picked up in two rings and I introduced myself and hoped that he’d take it from there. He asked me, ‘Where are you?’, ‘In Lokhandwala, sir’. ‘So 2, at my office?’, ‘Definitely sir, I’ll see you there’.
I didn’t sign any documents for about five minutes after the conversation, because my hands wouldn’t stop trembling! I ran home. It was 12.30, I had time. I took out my best jeans and shirt, looked at the mirror and lamented the fact that I’d lost weight recently so the shirt wouldn’t fit me properly. I didn’t know what to do with my hair... would it really matter?
My mind was racing in alternate directions! As a model/actor, it’s my prerogative to be well dressed, a peer imposed rule, which I follow on rare occasions. I calmed down, sat on the bed in the ‘pranayam’ pose and tried to think straight about what to say to him, how to shake hands, how to sit, how to stand etc.
I left at twenty to two, I did not know the exact address. A call to a friend sorted that out, but I still ended up roaming about for about ten minutes. At the reception, I was offered a seat. I was calm, but the little man in my head was fidgety. He made my legs switch positions, straighten my back every few seconds, crack my finger joints and neck, and when I was offered water, he made me gulp it down at a go. I tried to calm him down by looking at the various film posters framed on the walls. All this while, since the time I called him, a part of my mind was also working on how to write about this whole experience... thus the details.
{{/usCountry}}I left at twenty to two, I did not know the exact address. A call to a friend sorted that out, but I still ended up roaming about for about ten minutes. At the reception, I was offered a seat. I was calm, but the little man in my head was fidgety. He made my legs switch positions, straighten my back every few seconds, crack my finger joints and neck, and when I was offered water, he made me gulp it down at a go. I tried to calm him down by looking at the various film posters framed on the walls. All this while, since the time I called him, a part of my mind was also working on how to write about this whole experience... thus the details.
{{/usCountry}}When he came out to meet me, all my mental preparations went haywire. All that was left of it was a huge smug smile on my face. I won’t write about what happened. Imagine it like a movie where in the last scene the protagonist is sitting, waiting. He sees someone coming towards him, a big smile flashes across his face, he stands up and shakes hands. Movie ends on a positive note.
PS: Lo Lad is on Facebook, even if you don’t like what he writes, add him and let him know.