A few weeks ago I received a call from NDTV requesting me to fill in the empty spaces in one of their talk shows. I had been to one celebrity stuffed show before and was reduced to a shadowy face in the crowd. I wasn’t even allowed to wave at the camera like the crowds in cricket matches and also forgot to ask the pre-prepared question thoughtfully provided to me by the producers. I was robbed of my few seconds of fame.
Therefore, I politely declined. Moreover my office is such that I have to be present there even on my funeral. But talk show audiences nowadays seem to be a scarce commodity. They persisted and I again declined. Finally, in a last desperate effort they said that they wanted to interview me on the topic of the show. Someone wanting to interview me? Is there a laryngitis epidemic out there?
I relented. After all I wouldn’t need to wave my hands to grab attention. My seconds of fame would perhaps get stretched to a few minutes. But, their scheduled interview timing clashed with my working hours. They offered to shoot somewhere in the vicinity of my workplace (The laryngitis epidemic thing must really be true).
They came, they shot and they left. Promising to inform me about the date and time of the telecast. Made me talk a lot and act a little.
The programme perhaps has already been aired. Neither I, nor anyone that I know saw that show. I might have finally had my few minutes of fame, but I myself didn’t notice it. But should I care? Naaah! There are more laryngitis epidemics on the anvil. And I’m enjoying my newfound dial-a-quote status, newspapers quote me somewhere inside the sleazy stories in the city supplements. But they inevitably carry a disclaimer at the end – Some names have been changed to protect identities. There go my few column-centimetres of fame.
