Decked up mommies choose to forget their kids somewhere in the crowd; somebody's somebody tries to get ahead with 'references'; the area for media is flooded with relatives, cousins and friends of organisers; the PRO yells at the 'high-profile crowd'; her words fall on deaf ears of women bathed in make-up and noisy children — all the ruckus to get a glimpse of their favourite Bollywood actor, Salman Khan, who was in Chandigarh on Thursday to launch the Being Human store at Elante Mall.
No matter where you entered from — the mall entrance or the basement parking — it was the hooting and uproar of anticipation that led you to the venue of the event. For imaginary purposes, picture Sachin Tendulkar hitting a six on the last ball of the innings — the crowd sure had their throats cleared for the evening.
But, as you wait an hour for the superstar's arrival, you realise that the crazy frenzy is coupled with sheer love. So much so, that you end up meeting 10 wives, 20 children and N number of relatives of the franchise's owner. It makes you wonder what all one would be ready to say to get their way through. The event, it seemed, was organised solely for so-and-so's relatives and friends, and poorly so. Never mind luring our fraternity with the temptation of a 'media interaction'.
Amidst such raging emotions, one can't help but feel for the eyes behind the shutterbugs, let alone their bodies. Even at the expense of risking the safety of their equipment, photojournalists try to do justice with the star's aura.
Near-stampede, mad dash, rush are words that fall short to illustrate the scene of his arrival. As if music to the crowd's ears, he says, "It's amazing to come to this beautiful city. I hope you like the clothes we make for you."
As the sentence ends, bouncers get down to the nasty nature of their job. As everyone rushes to get within a two-meter radius of the star, policemen, and Salman's favourite guard man, Shera, come to his rescue.
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