Sunday, June 10, 2007

Hellish Experiences: Interviews

During the course of the Hellish Thing we had to do over the Summer, we interviewed Dino Morea. He was nice. Didnt even once roll his eyes at the foolish questions we threw at him.

Did he like pink clothes?
"Pink's fantastic," he said, unflinchingly.
Until he caught Su2's disgusted expression and stopped abruptly, mid grin.
What is it with people and pink? Really. They should just lay off it.

Would he rather be overdressed or underdressed to an occassion?
"Erm, I dunno, its always better to be properly dressed for any occassion, appropriately so I mean, erm... you know? Anything that fits the situation, scenario... I dont know..." *insert confused floundering look*
I dont blame him though, it was a dumb question.

And what would we catch him dressed in if we broke into his house?
*look of fear and suspicion* Were we planning on doing so?
After we assured him we most certainly would not, that we were respectable "journalists", and there was no way we would stoop to that, even if we got really desperate and unhinged (The profession can push you towards those areas), he condescended to answer.
"Um, you'd find me in bed, man."
That did not answer the question, but we giggled politely and looked expectant.
"Shorts and a T" he said. Or something of that sort, I don't remember now, it was too boring and too long ago.
Again, I dont blame him. I wouldnt have known what to say either. I would not want to be a celebrity, ever.

So those were the three dumbest questions. The rest were things like, Tell us a childhood experience in Bangalore that you cling to, and other such boring likes. He was very sweet (we were "journalists", what do you expect?), plus we were given drinks in fancy glasses and those weird snack like things to eat with tooth picks. Plus, a free bag, and in it a free T. Sadly mine was white and Extra Large. Sigh, you cant have everything.

This other time, Jay and I interviewed Charu Sharma.
You: Who?
You know, the cricket commentator who was co-host of Extraaa Innings with Mandira Bedi.
You: Aaaah.

It was late. Jay wanted to go home. But I ploughed on and said "We must, we must! What an opportunity!" He stood and talked to us for ages. It was only when Jay noticed he was massaging his back and giving us pained expressions, that we decided to stop.
We then proceeded to scour Brigade road for internet cafes so we could send off our article. It was 9pm. They were all closed or under construction or charged you 200 bucks to become a member before you could use their computers. 7 places we visited. I counted. One of them was on the 4th floor and the escalators werent working. Poor Jay, I whined the whole time.
We finally found some iffy looking place that was open, and sent it off.
Jay then sent me off in an auto, and sighed in relief.
"Until tomorrow," he must have thought. "Until tomorrow, I am free from that girl's unbearable banter."
We got a byline, which is good, after all that effort.

We came close to a third interview. We asked Anita Nair at the same book launch that we interviewed Charu Sharma, if she'd let us talk to her, but she swatted us away like flies, so we just buzzed off.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought that you had ahem, overcome those feelings of yours for pink? :) Some vestiges of it still left, eh?

La said...

Some?! "MM loves pink, all's well with the world..." If she ever stops liking it she'll need to be taken to a psychologist. No worries MM, if that ever happens, I'm sure you'll get free therapy.

Was it all hellish? Really?

MM said...

@la: No no, whatever gave you that impression? :D

Thought it would be, before it started, ruining the holidays and all that, hence labelled it Hellish Thing we HAVE to do over the Summer.

The name stuck, thats all.
Like I said, I enjoyed it. Twas fun. Glad we did it.

MM said...

@PS: Vestiges? :D See new post.

the Monk said...

See now, I'm focusing on Mandira Bedi and her noodle straps.