A fitting tribute to 18 till I die!

So, I get introduced to him in a crowded street outside Ghantaghar where the camera team is busy locating an appropriate position to capture this 100 years old wall clock. He gives me a broad smile and hits his palm against mine to create a loud sound of a clap – an exaggerated version of a hand shake. He is a South India, born and brought up in Vadodara, speaks fluent Gujarati and uses swear words in Hindi in every second sentence with flair of a true Mumbaite. His command over abusive slang makes me picture him a Delhite.

He is moving around, sometimes 360*, only to find something amusing and crack a joke over it. And trust me he can make people around him chuckle with his desi, boyish jokes. He is dark like charcoal and dons a full grown moustache, with hair strands partially hiding his upper lip. Each strand is harmoniously trimmed and symmetrical.

His dressing is pretty relaxed and young; he prefers wearing collared Tees that too straightened, unfolded collar covering his high neck which he owes to his days in college as a footballer and a cricketer. His forearms are so curvy that they immediately catch the attention of a gym regular like me, and I fail to refrain myself from offering him a compliment out of sheer admiration. And he shrugs it off with a smile!

Before going any further, I must deal with a dilemma in my subconscious mind i.e. whether I should reveal his identity here or not because doing so might stop me from painting his true picture which will be an injustice to his colorful and vibrant persona. In fact, today I made him a victim of paparazzi with an intention of putting his candid pictures here. Ummm…okay, in his best interest and as a matter of morality, I keep his identity hidden for now. 

However, I should tell you that he is a Sr. Executive in Siemens, a bureaucratically run multi-national. And I must tell you that he states his designation with a lot of pride.

The reason he got me interested into writing my first ‘character presentation’, if I could use this term for this post, is his flamboyance and overflowing, contagious energy. In my six months with Siemens, he is the one person I found with a distinctive personality and a character that is poles apart from what he does and the nature of the company that he works for. He is by the way into administration and previously dabbled into outdoor advertising for a good part of his career.

Okay! Now, I give you a run down on the events. The day shoot ends by 12:45pm and we proceed for lunch at Hotel Surya Palace, not a five-star but a renowned hotel owned by a descendent of Maharaja Family. I follow him to steer through the main entrance into the lobby. He gets in and takes a look around relaxed as if he has got back home after a long. He goes to the reception and a hi-five to front desk operators. With a wavy hello to people at the other end he greets everyone and vice-versa. We move ahead and there comes a female hotel manager who he gives a tight hug and chit-chats in local language. The whispering appeared to be a lovey-dovey exchange. All very good till here!

We get into the restaurant for a buffet lunch. Here again, people come forward to greet him – hello sir, after a long time, etc. We are all seated and the camera crew with the producer from Germany is looking through the recorded footage. He and I are taking a walk through the displayed menu. I have decided in my mind what I will have. He screams to the chef at the far end – Where is the fried green chilies? (He says it in Gujarati with twitching sound created by rubbing middle finger against the thumb). And there comes a reply, will be ready and served to you Sir. All well!

We go back and take our seats. He waves at a restaurant manager and asks him – Fried Prawns kidhar hai? Apne ko mangta hai! Manager – OK SIR! I and this other colleague of mine stand up, take our plates, fill some dishes and return to the table. He is still seated; out of courtesy I offer him food from my plate. He says, ‘I don’t eat much.’ He stops a waiter passing by our table and asks him to bring some non-vegetarian starters for him.

We are seated on the last table, with back against the wall. He is seated facing the hall and while we are seated facing the wall. He is constantly looking around and passing comments on everyone entering or leaving the room. He has a running commentary on girls coming for the lunch. His comments are all very boyish and funny. In the middle of my laughter I ask him to go and approach some of them. He retorts, ‘I only admire girls. I do not try on them.” In other words, “door se dekhne ka aur bas nikal jaane ka. Chedne ka nahi, galat baat!”

He sees someone and walks away from the table to talk to him. After a while, his orders arrives and we look back to signal at him. The waiter stops us and says, ‘don’t worry sir. He has been informed’. Now, that is impressive!

He returns and starts eating. I ask for a Diet Coke from a waiter. A few minutes later, hotel manager comes to our table and politely tells him, “Sir, Diet Coke won’t be there”. He listens to the manager and asks her to sit besides him. The manager says she can’t as she is on duty. He jokes with her and we agree on Diet Pepsi instead.

We are in the middle of our lunch and he tells me that his wife is not keeping well for the past six months. I ask him what is wrong with her. He says Kidney problem. He goes onto tell me how disturbed he is because of her illness. While we are discussing his wife’s problem, his son calls him up to update that his wife has eaten her lunch. He is very happy that his wife has had her lunch, which he says has happened after almost a week. Very good news indeed!

Suddenly he digresses from this conversation to pass a comment on the girl entering the restaurant. We turn around to look at the girl. The topic of discussion has now moved on and we are now talking about whores, beauty in Delhi, Vadodara and Mumbai. He goes onto to state with the confidence that during his advertising days he had had the best of women. He swears on his clean record and claims that he has never misjudged a woman and could tell from a single look whether she is a whore or not. Wow! That took out a debate and discussion which is not worth talking about here.

We leave the hotel, royally treated! More importantly, he leaves the hotel with a lot more fanfare than he had entered with. Something I never experienced before.

From a local Five-Star Hotel to back on the streets! With a sudden fall in status, his gears also shift and we are ducking under shade to protect ourselves from scorching sun. He buys an electric racket that kills mosquitoes and flies. We proceed to the next location.

The Director now demands to go onto the roof of a commercial building to shoot the MS University. He shrugs off the request and says, ‘bhenchod iska permission nahi liya main.’ Tum log marwayega mujhko. It seemed he had forgotten for a moment that there is no ‘NO’ word in his dictionary. He realizes his mistake and smiles. In a minute, he is inside the building trying to set-up shoot from the roof top. In between, he is the one who gathered all the permissions for the city shoot at various locations. Supposedly, he carries out government and police relations on behalf of Siemens Vadodara.

Our caravan goes on and with it his never decreasing levels of energy. He claims that 80% people in Vadodara know him by face and name. He may just be a Sr. Executive, no pun intended, but a very popular local figure. People vouch for his networking skills. He is the Man Friday for Siemens.

His flamboyance and boyish mischief cannot be mistaken for misbehavior and loose character. He is perceived to be very discretionary and mannered. In a day spent with him, I could see colors of Rajnikanth, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar in him. He is a superb Public Relations role model and a charming personality.

He is 45, father of a 16 year old, and a devout husband. He lives life King size in his own zone. He is very unlike Siemens; hence, surprised me! He comes across caring and concerned, yet he does not let complexities reflect on his forehead.

He is a fitting tribute to 18 till I die! God bless him.

Having reached the end of my post, I realize it would be incomplete without his photograph at least. So, I take the risk and put it here.