My 30, nay, 10 seconds of fame.

Last Tuesday (15th January’08) I spent an interesting evening. Why interesting?

Well, not because I got a chance to rub shoulders with some of Bangalore’s (and some not of Bangalore's) social elite, not because, for the first time I attended a televised debate getting recorded, not because I got free food and drinks, honestly the only thing good about the food was that it was free, but because I had my 10 seconds of fame.

Ok, and the free food and drinks as well.

The occasion was CNN-IBN’s Indian of the year award 2007 and the Bangalore road show to promote the same. To read more about it, click here.

The venue was Taj West End, among the more spacious 5 star properties in Bangalore, with an entrance so well tucked away that it took me three passes to actually find it. How well I put the blame on anything but me.

The debate started well after its scheduled time, so there was plenty of opportunity to gulp down a few drinks (Champagne, cool!) and unobtrusively (or so I thought) to check out the gathering gaggle.

I do not know about you, but usually when you see before you, people whom you see only on TV it is something of an anticlimax. But then, the champagne helped.

The debate itself was routine, always remaining at a petty, populist level with not even a flash of brilliance. But I did realise how important a job the moderator (in this case Rajdeep Sardesai) does in keeping the debate flowing and interesting. He steers the debate in a pre-ordained direction without loosing the thread and expertly keeps the audience engaged by making it pretty interactive.

Towards the end, the audience was asked to name its choice of the Indian of the Year, and as several hands went up, Rajdeep finally noticed mine (lucky me!!) and I bravely, trying not to stutter or stammer, spoke out my choice…who else but Sourav Ganguly.

I saw the recorded broadcast on CNN IBN today and fortunately enough, the question was not edited out and I did get my 10 seconds of fame on national TV!!

The session was followed by more drinks and well, dinner. This was my opportunity to try and chat up some of the celebrities. As most of the celebrities had put their best “PR” face on, I was on a roll soon enough.

So here’s my quick take on some of the guys I spoke to and some I did not.


Mahesh Dattani – A singularly effeminate “person”, who spoke mostly garbage on stage. Off it, he stood out by virtue of his rather loud interaction with the Bangalore fashion side-shows – Prasad Bidappa and Manoviraj Khosla.

Captain Gopinath – I guess he practises what he preaches. He came with his family in pretty common man clothes and on stage, stood out for his passion and forthrightness.

Khushboo, the actress was actually pretty impressive both in the way she spoke and the stuff she spoke.

Mohandas Pai – the Infy honcho was the star in the audience and was certainly an imposing personality.

All the above either did not stay back for dinner or left too early, for I do not remember seeing them at the dinner lawns.

Jay Panda – A Rajya Sabha MP from Biju Janata Dal, was highly impressive on stage and off it. I got a chance to suck up to him during dinner. He did mention that he would have picked Sourav as his choice had I not done it (imagine…me stealing the thunder). Seeing him on stage and then meeting him in person, I had no doubt that with his articulation and poise, this guy will easily make a star TV panellist. The flip side - well he is too polished and classy to be a mass leader like a Mayawati, Lallu or Modi. Such is the misfortune of our country. However I do hope he makes it to the Lok Sabha at least. Visit his website here.

Vasanthi Hariprakash – She is a leading Bangalore radio jockey and I tune in to her programme regularly while on my way to office. Very pleasant to hear on radio, meeting her in person I remember mentioning that I was a fan! (the champagne was kicking in?). With considerable elegance she hop-skipped to a far corner once she realised I was taking up too much of her air-time.

Rajdeep – The guy appeared very affable. He remembered my participation when I congratulated him on the way he conducted the debate…gee whiz. And while speaking to Rajdeep I got to shake hands with Bhupendra Chaubey, a CNN IBN anchor.

Ofcourse there were a few others like Dr Sharan Patil (the doc who conducted the operation on the eight limbed Lakshmi and manged to become something of a celebrity himself). I did not speak to him, but he certainly seemed to be enjoying if not basking in his new found fame.

Not a bad way to spend an evening, what say you?