Everybody, agree or not, have a hidden dream of seeing themselves on the television someday. But then there are conditions attached to it. It has to be an appearance where people admire you or complement you for and not one where you end up being nothing but a laughing stock. One such incident happened with me which I would like to share with all of you.
This was during the whole earthquake and radiation episode in Japan. I was at the international airport (Narita) in Tokyo. There was panic everywhere amongst the foreigners and everyone was flying back to their respective homeland. I was one of them! The airport was very crowded that day with thousands of passengers standing in queues to check-in for their flights. Trust me I had never seen any airport so crowded ever before. All the flights were running full or rather flying full. I guess the airline carriers might have even added few extra seats to their planes just like Indian Railways adds extra coaches to their trains.
So just like everyone else there, I was also standing in a queue waiting to check-in to my flight. I was chatting with a Chinese guy in front of me increasing his knowledge about India, when I saw a crew of a reporter (with a mic in his hand) and a cameraman. They were Indians and guess which channel they were from. INDIA TV!!!! I came to know by the logo on the mic. Can you imagine an India TV reporter right in front of you at an airport in Japan!! These guys were telecasting the situation in Japan after the radiation leak and were interviewing random people at the airport.
I just happened to glance at the reporter, when he saw me and came towards me. Trust me the words that popped into my mind at that time were “Damn! Why the heck did I look at him!?” As he was walking towards me, he started speaking in the typical India TV style:
“Aur ye hum dekh sakte hai ek Bhartiya chehra. Aaiye hum inse puchte hai.” (There were hundreds of Indian faces there. Don’t know why he thought I was the only one!?)
Reporter: “Kya aap vapas jaa rahe hai?”
Me: “Yes I am travelling back to India.” (otherwise why would I be at the airport and stand in a queue!)
Reporter: “Kya aap darr ke maare wapas India jaa rahe hai?”
Me (shocked but controlled myself): “Ji nahi. Mera Japan me kaam khatam ho chuka hai is liye main wapas jaa raha hu.”
All this time the camera seemed to be rolling and I could feel some cheap animated scenes of radiation playing behind me at the background and may be few arrows pointing at my messed up hair saying “Radiations ke wajah se!!!”
Reporter: “Kya apki kisise baat hui?”
Me (genuinely couldn’t understand his question): “Kisse!?”
Reporter: “Kya apki Japani logon se baat hui. Wo kaisa mehsus kar rahe hai?”
Me (trying to look calm): “Everything is normal. Saari offices chal rahi hai. Log roz apne kaam pe jaa rahe hai. There is nothing to worry.”
At this point he realized that am not giving him the content he wants. There is nothing interesting coming out from me which will make people watch their news. So he thought of ending it there.
Reporter: “Ye shaqs to dare hue nahi lag rahe. Aaiye hum aur logo se baat karte hai.” :)
They went ahead and I had a big sigh of relief. Now if the whole thing was not live and just a recording, intended to be telecasted later, then I am damn sure that guy must have erased my interview from the camera (all the time cursing me while doing so!). But if it was all live then am sure nobody in India would have seen it.
Firstly it was on INDIA TV and secondly it must have been 5:30 in the morning in India.
So that was my brief (1 minute) TV interview, which I am glad everyone missed it. This is surely not the kind of dream that I was talking about earlier. But now when I look back, I find it a really funny incident. One I might remember for a very long time!
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