Goodness Gracious Me

I would say that my 6 weeks vacation was exactly what one would envy (barring the un-healthy experience at the end). Now when I look back at it, it’s a bit of an achievement with the number of cities I walked thru during my holidays.

Some considered my trip to be pretty clustered up but to me it was just perfect. I firmly believe that life is full of shocks and surprises and I experienced both in a span of two days. The shock bit occurred during my flight back home and the unexpected surprise just a day before.

For those who know me well enough can easily vouch on my fascination and obsession with the Entertainment Industry. Be it Hollywood, Bollywood or Tellywood; I love them all. So for me meeting this particular person was like adding a fresh layer of cream on my already delicious Blueberry Cheesecake.

On my second last day in London city, I along with my two cousins and my best friend went to South Woodford to meet up with my friend’s cousin. When we were about to leave, my friend’s cousin proudly informed us that his neighbors were the folks from the Britain’s Desi laugh riot series called ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ and then he pointed his finger towards their house. Sanjeev Bhaskar and his wife and fellow actress Meera Syal were his neighborhood buddies.

Now I can guarantee that there would be hardly be any Indians who have seen this show and simply hated it. I mean these guys, simply rock da house. Anyway after our goodbyes and all, as we were walking past their house I couldn’t help from peeking a look inside their gates. Two Renault sports cars were parked inside which gave a slight indication that the couple might be home. So I try to persuade my best friend to ring the bell at the gate but she flatly refused since she had never watched the show, plus she wouldn’t care a damn even if it was Amitabh Bachchan (but for Abhishek, she might consider). After her refusal, I tried to encourage my younger cousins to help me out but as they say destiny works in mysterious ways.

Just as we were tying to work out a plan, Walla! The Pizza Guy makes an entry. He parks his bike outside Sanjeev’s house and rings the bell - completely oblivious of the fact that four girls had be waiting to do the same for the past 10 minutes or so. Anyway, after couple of seconds the automatic gates open up and the delivery guy makes his way in. Now from where we were standing, we could only see a man’s hand popping outside the door and taking the pizza in. And then after couple of seconds again the hand pops out to hand in some cash to the delivery guy. Then just as the hands were about to close the doors, Sanjeev peeps his head out and looks at us. For me, this was my chance and so I yelled out a really loud “hello” and waved my hands as hard and fast as I could. Living in Mumbai, one often bumps into some actor or the other, now and then. But this was Sanjeev and this was London and he I really liked, so my usually calm self got a bit of out of control.

Then on seeing him wave back at me with the same enthusiasm (maybe I imagined this), I once again yelled out, “Could I have a snap with you, PLSSS?” To which he replied, “Come later, I am having dinner” and then I replied even louder than I had before, “But I am leaving for Bombay tonight” (Okay, I lied?but he didn’t know and I had no choice).

Sanjeev and Me

And thankfully my sweet lie worked. Sanjeev (wearing an Elvis t-shirt) walked in our direction and greeted all of us with his warm but mischievous smile. I quickly stood next to him and my friend was fast enough to get the camera out and click a snap. Then I was about to ask for Meera but stopped, I mean there is only a little luck one can use, Right?

Nope he didn’t invite us inside for the pizza nor did he stay even a second more after the photograph session was over. But I am glad that he was decent enough to mingle with his fans. Then we left South Woodford with smiley faces and pumped up heart beats and spend the entire night story-telling the entire episode to whoever was interested.

And incase you are wondering, Yes! The Superman t-shirt did work. Sanjeev while posing for the snaps passed an amusing but important remark, “The only reason I am doing this is because of that Superman t-shirt”.

I love you Superman.

• Bollywood, Hollywood, Humor, India, Me, Travel, Women
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