By now 2011 has turned out to be the most interesting year of my life, with as much as good memories as bad ones !! Good ones being mainly because of 2 specific dates ... 12th of September and now, 24th of October ; Both being so special because of the presence of some essentially close friends and some indeed special people of my life. The tale of 12th September is already said before, so, Here I come with the latest tale of 24th October!!
Now, the tale begins a month back, that is on 30th of October when I received a call from one of the crew members! He asked me to send in the list of possible locations in Kolkata, which are important to Kolkata. He told me that they might be coming here during Diwali and also asked me to keep shut about it for the time being. So did I. Extremely excited, I did what I was asked to do' mailed the necessary details and also, kept shut about it (I know many people are angry with me for that reason).
Anyways, this news was a great one for me' at the same time was a big problem for me! Reason being the fact that I had different plans for Diwali and I had to convince my parents all over again for changing the plans altogether ! Tough job it was' but surely, with Mom's support, Dad gave in and we rescheduled our plans as per the CID trip.
Finally, after a lot of waiting and all, including my exams in the meantime, the week came when they were to arrive. Now, before they could come I wished to inform all those people who would want to meet the team during their stay, so did I! At the same time, told some close ones of mine ' cos now it was getting very difficult for me to keep all the excitement just to myself.
Now, the day my exams got over, i.e 21st of October, I came to know that some crew members were already in Kolkata. And when i contacted them that evening, they were at a place around 5 mins from my home. So, I invited them at my home for dinner and they did so.. ! Had an awesome time with them' That was really a nice experience and surely I made a very sweet friend indeed!! I would like to thank them for the wonderful gift they had given me '.:)
Now next was the arrival of the team in the City of Joy, they came on 22nd night, with Aditya sir landing at first as he was coming from Delhi ' followed by the rest! They were staying in a hotel which is around half and hour far from my place' Anyways, next day was the first day of their shoots.. and I was aware of the shooting locations, but since it was a day for running shoots, I had no idea about when to find them and where ' I waited all day, also kept all those people in hope who were supposed to come with me to the shoots, but finally, what came was disappointment ! Came to know about the difficulties they had during the shoots and the sad fact that they were unable to complete the scheduled scenes that day!
This was a big setback for me.. there were 3 reasons for my disappointment. Firstly because my wishes of meeting them wasn't fulfilled. Secondly, i felt sad for all those people who were eagerly waiting for me to give them details for the shoots but I had to disappoint them! And finally because I didn't want the team to start their shoot in Kolkata with a failure..:(
About next day, I was completely blank. No idea about locations or time or anything at all! All night, I was awake, thinking about whats in store the next day. How I am supposed to get the informations and get permission for the visit ! After a lot of try, since 5.30 in the morning, I managed to get the needed info and also an invitation..:D
Now this was a tough moment, I wasn't sure what was in store actually! I was finding it difficult to believe that the moment was truly coming when I would see them again. I was still wondering if they would recognize me at all' I was still wondering if like the day before, they are not able to shoot that day ! In the midst of all this, another problem came in, when my parents who were out for some work, didn't return for a long time and I was horribly late for this reason ! The traffic was further proving to be unlucky for me and when I reached there, I was around 45 mins late !!
Anyways, met the 4 beautiful Bong ladies there' Debashree di, Saadrita, Shreela and another FB friend of mine ! Standing outside the famous coffee house all I could think was what must be going on inside' I realized that inspite of this being my 3rd visit I was feeling exactly the same as I had felt on the 16th of June more than a year back ! Anyways, I called up one of the crew members, and he said to come upstairs and also mentioned something about problems at the shoots ! I couldn't listen properly because of the crowd and noise, so decided to go upstairs with someone first, and then call others if the situation there is fine. Debashree di accompanied me' we were on the stairs, when She stopped all of a sudden. I turned back to ask whats the matter when she pointed at someone who was also going upstairs with us. It was none other than B.P Singh ! We reached the first floor, when he started climbing the stairs to go to the 2nd floow.. and suddenly my eyes fell on none other than Shivaji Satam followed by Aditya sir and Viivek who too were moving to the 3nd floor. These moments of "Jhalak" are indeed the most dangeorous moments during a meet !! The heart beats terribly at these instances ..
After they were out of sight, I met one of the crew members. He told us that they were going upstairs for press conference . The rest of our group joined us and we waited on the 1st floor. This was the time when we had our time of Gossip' among ourselves and also with a crew member. A nice time chatting' sharing each other's excitement levels and simply carrying on the IF discussions :P.
Now, it was getting tough to wait here anymore. So we decided to go upstairs and check out whats happening. We did, we saw that the team was all surrounded by the media'and crew members and some people who seemed like fans..:P No way could we see them properly from outside the room, so we stood here waiting for the room to get a little less crowded or them to come out. After a while, B.P sir came out with Christy mam, Sachindra sir and some others. They stood right in front of us and were discussing about the shots (most probably) . At times, we felt as if they staring at us with weird expressions, or may be scary would be a better word..:P
We tried every way to get their glimpse in the meantime..with not much of a success' But then the good times were not so far! Soon, we could see Aditya sir moving out of the press conference, with Daya sir and Viivek. They were still inside the room, and we stood outside, waiting for them to look at us . It was an odd feeling. I was quite sure that they wont even recognize me in this crowd. However, I noticed Viivek standing inside . He noticed me too' and then waved a hand happily and asked us to get inside the room. We did, but thanks to the crowd and media persons, we were sent back to where we were..:P
Once again, Viivek saw us still standing out and he asked us to get inside by his hand movements.. I tried and explained to him that it was too crowded, so they were not letting us get in, sab ishaaron mein. After a while, we noticed Aditya sir coming out of the gate at which we were standing. He came, unfortunately didn't notice us at all, and was almost gonna leave when some other fans stopped him. In the meantime, Daya sir too came out of the room. Thankfully, I didn't remain silent in front of him(like I always do in front of Adi sir..). He noticed us and smiled in the sweetest of ways and said "HI Shagnika..How are you?" We shook our hands and I said something may be ! (I don't remember what I said.. I was too shocked about the fact that he recognized me !!! GAWWWD!! ) He then asked ' "These are your friends" and shook hands with each. Before anymore conversation could happen, he said he would come back after sometime, after he is done with his make up and all. He told us to go inside.. asked the crew members to let us in and made us sit and also asked one of the crew members to serve us some tea or coffee.
Anyways, we went inside, took one corner and saw that Aditya sir was already back into the room ! We Didn't realize when he entered the room although we were right at the entrance with Daya sir. We were staring at him' with our heart beats raised to the power of infinity..at least mine ! :P He had his back towards us, cos he was discussing the scene with B.P singh sir. In the meantime, I turned behind and found Satam sir giving interviews to some channel. Now came one of the bestest moment of my life, something I can never forget' Satam sir noticed me' stared at me for a second and instantly shouted "SHAGNIKA"'. With eyes wide open !! Very very embarassing moment I must say !! He stood up and we shook hands and hugged..:) He is such a fatherly figure ki kya kahun !! Love him..love him to the core' He said hi to all of us..and went back to the interview' but before that, he told me once again- "See, I recognized you ..I didn't forget you.."' Awww' Love him !!!
After sometime, BP sir called Satam sir for the shots, so the interviews were put on hold. The shooting began.. took a long time for them to shoot in the crowds. The shooting continued for long..with some smiles and looks, stylish poses to stare at !! Par abhi bhi dil mein ek baat chubh rahi thi' The person for whom I was there, was yet to look at me even once !! Anyways, we took chairs and sat down, with me still busy doing what I am best at ' staring and smiling at Adi sir..:P and right then, Aditya sir finally looked at me' After a second or two he gave an instant smile and waved at me' For sometime , I think I stood still, without replying to his gestures.. then finally waved back at him.
Now, for a long time the shoots continued. The cast and crew, all worked immensely hard on each and every scene.. !! It was evident from all their faces how exhausted all of them were. Hungry, tired, exhausted.. all in all, I pitied them for their conditions ! Nevertheless, Satam sir took a short break and came right towards us. He again hugged me, and asked how was I. I asked him if he was enjoying in Kolkata' to which he said "Fallen in love with Cal "..:) J He then took out his cell phone and showed us his wallpaper which was the picture of Ma Kali. By now, there were many fans surrounding all if us. He started giving autographs to all ..and also spoke to us. We told him that we were from India forums and he was surprised once again '" Achha to tum sab bhi forum waale ho?"'Payel di, Debashree di and many other fans handed over their gifts to him. Now this was funny, I was standing right beside him, so he started handing over the gifts to me one by one. Finally, when he was done with all the autographs and all, he took the gifts from me and gave them to one of the crew members. Before leaving for his shot once again, he hugged me ( so cute he is !!) ' the best part was how he said ' "She is a special friend. She brought you all here'"' Awww.. that was so so so touching !!!! I didn't know how to express my thanks to him for saying that bit' Really ! and then I loved how he touched Saadi, Deba and Shreela's cheeks.. That was cho chweet!! <3
Now shooting continued for a long time again.. By now, it was already late for Shreela and Saadi to return and so Shreela left with a heavy heart as we were yet to meet Duo and interact with them a little more. But nothing was in our hands after all' She left , followed by Saadrita ! The rest of us, waited, chatted, stared, sang songs for the situation, chatted with a crew member for a long time..when we came to know that Aditya sir was going to leave Kolkata on Wednesday itself' L Anyways, after a long wait' Aditya sir, Viivek and Satam sir again took a break and came and sat down near the place where fans were there. In no time, they were all surrounded by fans, asking for autographs, clicking pics etc' Aditya sir was all so crowded that we decided to go to Viivek first who was standing at a distance. We went, met spoke for sometime, gave the gifts and took autographs when he asked ' "did you meet everyone else?" . I said "Aditya sir se abhi tak nahi mil paayein.. " Viivek gave a surprised expression and instantly said ' "Arre lets go, meet him na.. he took us to Adi sir, who was sitting right beside us. Adi sir saw us and stood up..while he was giving and autograph to another fan. Viivek told him "Sir yeh yaad hai? Shagnika' aayi thi'"..before Viivek could complete Adi sir went like ' "Maaloom hai yaar' Yaad hai mujhe.. I remember her..".. Awww'.. I bet if the crowd wasn't around , people would have heard my heart beating now !! Anyways, he asked how was I ..and so did I ! I asked him if he was liking Kolkata to which he replied.. "yeah I have been here before.. v nice.. v nice." I said ' "Sir aap 26th ko jaa rahe ho?" He replied.. '" uuh.. aaj kya hai? (to which I replied Monday, he started calculating in his mind).. Tuesday, Wednesday..haan haan 26th Wednesday ko jaa raha hoon'". Now we took some pics ' others took autographs and gave the gifts. When he saw my dad, he said.."Arre aap.. kaise hain aap? "..to my mom "Namaste Mam' Kaise hain aap?"' and as always I was still staring at him like always'!! After a while, we left him alone as the crew members wanted the crowd to leave the actors alone for sometime, so that they could take some rest ! Aditya sir, Satam sir and Viivek sat together..took some rest, Adi sir and Satam sir were chatting with each other..and Viivek seemed extremely exhausted and had his eyes shut' The shoots finally came to an end after some more scenes with the team. Now it was time for all to leave. Viivek being the first one, followed by Aditya sir both of them waved at us'and smiled (the most precious ones !)..and then Satam sir too said bbye..and hugged and shook hands once again. Daya sir came, he was again surrounded by fans as he was not available for a long time during the shoots. We met, shook hands once again'exchanged "How are you?"s.. , took photos ! In the meantime, Daya sir tried to convince our FB friend that he cant take the gift and she kept on insisting.. The 4 minute long "Nahi le sakta ' Nahi aapko plz le lo"' chat turned out to be a funny one actually.. ! :D Specially when Daya sir said.."Main yeh le lunga to main raat ko chain se so nahi paunga."..:P Anyways, finally he had to accept it..Before leaving, he noticed my mother's ring, took her hand in his palm and started asking her about it. Lolz..! I so wish I was wearing that ring instead of my mom..:P Nevertheless, he waved once again..bid us good bye..and went away !
Now the only thing we were left with was the gift that me and Debashree di had brought for Freddy sir as his bday present (which is just next week) on behalf of IFians.. Umm. I am sorry we couldn't share it with everyone before deciding upon it..as it was just a last minute decision ! Debashree di made a siggy for him and I got it laminated..all in just one day ! That's was the gift..I hope we don't get to hear angry comments regarding this. Sorry if we have anyone by this'
So , we looked for one of the crew members whom we knew and gave it to him. In the meantime, we found B.P sir standing there.. So we interacted with him for sometime. Thanked him for giving us the show which has given us some of the best moments of our life.. which has given us precious friends and everything which he cant even imagine of ! He then gave us autographs (he took long time for each autograph ! :P ) and was surprised when our Frnd handed him the gift. He said "Arre mujhe kyun..ACP ko do.." .. to which we said.."Unhe de diya sir..yeh aapke lie hi hai".He seemed to be touched. He told us to keep watching and the usual things like "Aapke lie hi hum itni door tak pahuche hain"..etc etc ! and finally left.. In the meantime, while others were talking to B.P sir' I said a Hi to Christy mam who said "I recognized you by your face, Shagnika". Yeh sab ke beech, Aditya sir and Satam sir also arrived and they bid us goodbyes once again..and finally were off' !!
Now that's the end' end of the story of 24th of October 2011' a Special day, not just because it was MY CID in MY CITY'. But also because the way they treated us was touching. Immensely touching for me ! And the presence of 3 IFians with me was also a great great support and great fun !! After all, its only you guys with whom, I can share my feelings so openly.. without the fear of you terming it as "Craziness"..:P After all, we are all alike in this one matter..:D
I am sorry to all those with whom I couldn't share the fact about the meeting before the meeting as I myself wasn't in a condition to share it at all.. It was all so uncertain and I was already so very disappointed and scared, that I couldn't help. I tried my best to bring as many people with me to share the happiness with me.. and I hope you all enjoyed Debahsree di, Shreela and Saadrita ! Sorry if it wasn't that satisfactory..but nothing was in our hands na ! Neverhteless, a glimpse is also enough for me to keep smiling for next few weeks !!
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
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