When I met Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor to fulfill my Mother's Dream!!!

874th BLOG POST -->>

       

   In my last blog post, I talked about my experience of meeting my idol and the way I met other great personalities and talked to them personally. I would like to thank India Non Fiction Festival for giving me the special opportunity to meet each and every one because not everyone from audience got the chance. The two guys who conducted every thing helped me a lot. Yesterday, I went for the 2nd day of INFF. But this time, I wasn't there for any thing that was associated with me. I went  for my mother. As I have always spoken in my Blog how great a cook my mom is, she has always idolized Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor. She has innumerable amount of books authored by him. She tries every thing that comes under her middle-class budget that Sanjeev Kapoor teaches. 

           Recently, a Facebook friend of mine was featured on Food Food channel where she was teaching Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor her secret recipe. I told my mother that she is my friend. She said to me,"Kya ye ladki mujhe aur achcha khaana banana seekha degi?" The innocence with which my mother said this to me bought tears in my eyes. She, being 46 years old, got ready to learn from a girl of 22 years old. I, somewhere, in my mind, said to myself,"What if my mother could directly learn from Sanjeev Kapoor's classes itself. I even searched for it on Internet but didn't get anything fruitful. The moment I got to know that I am a contest winner and being called upon at the Fest and there's a chance where I can meet Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, the legend and the Best Chef of India, I got excited. I went to Sai Mandir, thanked God and asked him to make my mother meet him.

           My mother, at the last moment, got sick and was unable to go. I asked her to give me her favorite book that is being authored by Mr. Sanjeev. I promised my mother that once I would be back in the evening, her book will already be touched by her idol. My mother wished me luck and sent me to Worli, a journey that book 2.5 hours to me. When I went in the lobby section where not many are allowed, the volunteers allowed me. I approached sir and asked him to write my mother's name on the book, wish her for her future cooking experiments and give an autograph in Hindi so that my mother can rejoice it more. He did the same. He wished her "Happy Cooking!". He then saw the book nicely and asked me if its the recent one. After that I had 15 minutes of chit-chatting with him where I told him, his wife and his daughter and Miss. Sudha Menon, author, about how ambitious my mother is when it comes to cooking. 

       

  I told Sanjeev sir that I came all the way just to fulfill her dream of getting her favorite book touched and autographed by him. He complimented me for being a very good son as there are very rare of them left in India. I, even, bluntly said to him,"Sir, I am neither your fan nor I am wanting to become next Ripudaman. I am here just for my mother as she is your fan. I don't even need to get clicked for a photograph just to over act like others indicating that I idolize you. It's my mother and I am a part of her. Hence a picture in which both of us would be sharing the space is going to be the best part of my mother's life." He appreciated me a lot for being so truthful. When we posed for picture, I wasn't smiling. He asked what's the matter. I said,"I have bucktooth which does not look good in pictures". He said,"Have you seen mine on television? Even they aren't good. Let's both of us show our teeth" and the result of it is visible in the image that I have uploaded. Haha! When I came home, my mother saw her name and his signature and the words "Happy Cooking!", she was in tears, hugged and thanked me. I can't describe the moment anymore in words. :-)

 

     

   And I also got to meet Mr. Makarand Waingankar, the man who bought MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina into Cricket. He has also bought many other cricketers but these two have been the best out of all that he have introduced. I also had a good conversation with Mr. Clayton, the author of "Sachin born to bat", the book in which Sachin has himself written the introduction. Both of them signed on their respective books that I won in the contests. They were very humble and gave me whole 10 minutes to discuss Cricket with them. Makarand sir said,"If you are interested in Cricket, tell me". I said to him that I am an aspiring writer. He exclaimed,"Ohh! So you hit Sixes and Fours with your pen" And their was a good laughter. After that I also met Mrs. Rashmi Bansal for the 2nd time and she said that I have changed a lot in terms of looks. And yes, in a good sense. Haha! 

         In all, these two days- 21st and 22nd, made me meet Mr. Amish Tripathi, my idol and Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor, my mother's idol. I can't thank 2013 anymore for being the best year of my life. WOW!!!

 Thanks. Keep praying for me.

 

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!