A Page 3 party

How would you feel if you went to an event thinking it’s a book launch and it turns out to be a page 3 party ? Well something to that effect happened to me a couple of days back.

I like reading books on Mumbai. Knowing that Vikram Chandra’s book Sacred Games had just come out, I went to pick it up from Oxford book store. Having bought the book, as I was leaving, the shop attendant told me that the book was supposed to be launched at the Rooftop of the Hilton ( formerly the Oberoi) today at 7 pm. “Chandra will be reading from the book as well” I was told.

The book is all of 900 pages long and is about a Sikh inspector in Mumbai police named Sartaj Singh who accidentally happens to get hold of Ganesh Gaitonde the boss of the C company. For those who loved Shantaram, this one is 36 pages less.

A quick glance at my mobile told me that it was already 8 o’clock. Now Mumbai is not Delhi where IST becomes Indian Stretchable Time. My limited experience in this city tells me that events usually start around half an hour late. Given this the chances of event being over by now were extremely high.

I made a dash for a cab and was at the Hilton in five minutes. As soon as I walked in to the hotel I ran into a colleague of mine who told me that the book reading was very short and now Chandra was signing books. So I had already missed the main part.

As soon as I entered the Rooftop there was smoke all around me. The smoke was because of the cigars that people were smoking. For a moment I thought I had walked into the wrong room. But the board outside had said “Book Launch: Sacred Games”. So I was definitely in the right room.

And then I saw Vikram Chandra standing in one corner giving an interview to a television channel. My first instinct was to leave. I thought it would be difficult to reach him and get the book autographed. Also I was feeling extremely out of place with a jhola and a umbrella hanging out of it. But then the very next moment I felt, now that I was there, why not wait. My eleven months in the city have made me realise that the two most important elements of surviving in Mumbai are chance and hope. If you have hope, you can take a chance. And then dance on it! That’s what this city is all about.

Plus by then my small town roots had taken over. I thought why not check out the “chota mota” celebrities who were there.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra ( who incidentally happens to be married to Chandra’s sister Anupapa) was laughing away loudly at one end of the room. Not showing any concern on “ Sunju baba” delaying the dubbing of Munnabhai part deux. His third wife Anupama, who was also there, was looking gorgeous in a short skirt. Then at the other corner, was Nethra Raghuraman, sometime model and actress ( oops! Even actresses are actors these days), looking gorgeous in a backless frock ( pardon me if there is a name for that as well) and smiling away to glory.

Vijayendra Ghatge was there in a black suit with black sunglasses covering his eyes. This is something I have never figured out. Why do film stars wear sunglasses inside a room or for that matter even during the night?

He had a drink in one hand and the book in another and was behaving like a superstar he never had been ( For those who do not know who he is. He was introduced in this Rajshree pictures movie called Chitchor, which had Amol Palekar and Zareena Wahab in the lead roles. The role he essayed in the original was played by Abhishek Bachchan in Sooraj Barjatiya’s lousy remake of Chitchor, called Main Prem ki Deewani Hoon.)

To my right was Simone Singh( of the television serial Henna fame and who was also seen in an itsy bitsy role in Kal Ho Na Ho). She was posing for the photographers with a drink in her hand and probably hoping that the picutres make it to the newpapers in a couple of days ( party pictures never get carried the next day because by the time they come in the newpaper already has gone for print).

And then there was Asif Zakaria looking much older from his Chunnauti days . (Chunnauti was one of the most popular serials on TV during the days DD ruled roost). He looked to be on a drinking spree. Guess howsover big one becomes, free booze is irresistable.

Having observed the entire thing from the sidelines I reallised that very few people had bought the book. Most of the people seemed to be there because in this city it pays to be seen in the right places.

I somehow managed to reach Chandra, who was being haggled by a woman, who wouldn’t let him go. She kept trying to convince him that they knew each other. And he just kept nodding his head. Once she was done, I got my copy of the book autogrpahed.

As I left the Rooftop, a couplet written by Bashir Badr kept looping in my mind,

“ Yahan dikhawe ki keemat hai aadmi ki nahi,
Mujhe gilas bade de, sharaab kam kar de”.