Gurpreet Singh

Venue: Out of the Blue, Bandra
Occasion: Date with Sujal (Gurpreet)

All this started with a simple call from Star Plus, that I had won Star Date with a celebrity. Little did I know that I was going to have dinner that night with none other than the guy I admire the most on the Indian TV screen - Gurpreet, more famous as Sujal from Kahiin To Hoga. I pinched myself. Ouch that hurt! "Stop wasting time and figure out what you are going to wear, what you are going to say!" I told myself.

And there I was at Out of the Blue, sharp at 8:30 PM, waiting for Gurpreet and the moments to come. Moments for which I have waited an entire day. I double checked whether I looked good enough to face the guy who has stolen many a hearts with his suave looks and screen presence that he carries off with great panache. A cold hand tapped my shoulders. I turned around to look who it would be...

Suddenly, there was this audio-visual fluctuation in my mind's TV screen. Visually I was getting this blurred image of an extremely good-looking man in his 20's and I could hear him asking whether I was Mamta. I quickly tuned myself back to reality and said, yes, I am Mamta. To that the hunk replied, "Hi, I am Gurpreet".

Well, who doesn't know you, Gurpreet! He escorted me to a table inside the restaurant and pulled up a chair for me, courteous to the core, a true gentleman. The area where we were seated was dimly lit and soon the manager himself came in person to take our orders. A Black Currant Ice Tea for myself and a Blue Driver for Gurpreet and some Bruchetta's as starters. We started talking and found out a lot in common - we both are Punjabis and also belong to the same community, the Khatris. We both shared our lucky number too - The Number 1. Never had I thought that anyone other than me would have 1 as the lucky Number.

Sipping on the cold iced tea, I listened to him talk about how he got into this line, made his career, his small steps in advertising and modeling. I figured he had really come up the hard way, and when opportunity knocked on his door, he welcomed it with an open heart. He had taken a two-hour break from his shooting to just have dinner with me. I really don't know someone so busy would really do that for me, let alone a celebrity. From the small talks we soon went on to order for our main course. He went for a chicken Thai sizzler, and I for a paneer stake with pepperita sauce and fries. The already wonderful food at Out of the Blues tasted better - I guess it's the company. I then asked him if he was interested only in TV or wanted to move to the bigger screen.

He told me about his cinema venture and his first project, Madhubala. He told me that the film was due to release in a few months and that he had acted with an actress who is his girlfriend now. A dejected me said Wow! That's great. At least he was honest. Kudos to him and his career. He deserves every bit of the success that he is currently enjoying.

A chocolate Rum Fondue and a sizzling Brownie with Baileys called for an apt ending to a wonderful dinner. Time really flies. A call on his cell and the expressions on his face stated that he had to get back to work. I was really sad to leave him at that moment, but I figured that from his busy schedule, he had already gone out of his way for me. Through the entire dinner, I was so awestruck at meeting the person I admire the most on TV, that I couldn't even say Thank you!

Well Gurpreet, I thank you now from the bottom of my heart. I had a great time. May success be with you in whatever you do in your life. Remain the person that you are and the world will change for you - Just for you.

Thank you Star Plus and the entire team of Out of the Blue for making this possible.