I'm famous
I thought
I was dreaming. I felt my face burn with a deep read blush.
June 1, 2005
iranian.com
One thing and one thing alone makes work
related trips bearable: combining them with pleasure. So, when
I had to
go to Louisville
for a meeting, I made sure I also visited LA to see my cousin,
his wife and new baby boy and San Francisco to see JJ and our
new office.
Meeting
JJ felt like being reunited with a long lost
friend. He put me at ease with his warm manner, was relaxed and
unassuming
but most importantly had a great sense of humour. Our lunch was
too short. I was ready to spend the whole afternoon and evening
hanging out with him. But it was a good job I didn’t because
something mind blowingly unbelievable happened to me as I was walking
aimlessly around Union Square afterwards.
I was about to cross a
street when a hand reached out from behind me and gently tugged
at my shoulder. My initial reaction was to
continue to cross the road. After all, what could the stranger
want except money. As I pulled away he pushed his way through
the rest of the crowd to stand along side me.
“Hey man, I know you man... ”
“Huh?”
“You write for Iranian.com don’t
you?”
 I thought
I was dreaming. I felt my face burn with a deep read blush. All
the more so when I noticed that half of the people who
were crossing the road with me had now stopped to listen and work
out why I had been recognised.
“I can’t believe it man I’ve been following you for
two blocks to make sure.”
“You recognised me?” I was incredulous. “Yeah -- you live in England don’t you? What are you
doing here, man? Does JJ know you are in town?”
“We
just had lunch... ”
“I can’t believe it, man. You’re famous...
Listen, I gotta go, I was walking in the opposite direction when
I recognised
you, bye man.”
And with that he took off back up the hill.
I grinned broadly as I looked around to notice a small group
of people still
standing around me trying to work out who I was. I concluded
that I had
been lucky. Many readers don’t like my writing, lifestyle
or appearance. He could have been one of those and spat on
me. In fact, there is a dumb Iranian lawyer in NYC who would
want to
do just that and more. I say dumb because he sent irritating
emails and never thought I would track him down to his place
of work (he
used an anonymous AOL account) with the help of a few friends
of mine.
I can’t be certain but I am sure I still had
that grin on my face two days later. I kept wanting to ask
complete strangers,
do you know who I am? I appeal to the stranger who recognised
me: please write in and reveal yourself to those who might think
I
have made this story up. You know who you are...
I landed in
London Heathrow on a Wednesday morning and immediately went to
the office. I had a mountain of work to get through
before going to Euro-Disney the following day, together with
20 or so
In(dian)-Laws.
 A word of advice about Euro-Disney:
don’t
do it. Go to Disney in Orlando instead. The one amusing story
about the Disney
break was when we (myself, our twins and 18 or so Indians cousins
>>>
photos ) were
queuing to go on a train ride. One of those rides which gently
takes you around the park so you can see everything. It was
a steam train. As soon as our group saw it a few suggested we get
on it
the way only Indians know how.
“Let’s get on the roof like they do back home!” shouted
Varinder.
I’m not sure why I laughed so hard but I am
very good at constructing images in my head. And this one was
of a group
of Indians riding on the roof of a steam train around Euro-Disney.
I think I laughed a little too hard for my father in law’s
liking.
As I type this note I am sitting in a rather nice hotel
called the Okura in Amsterdam. The day after returning from
Euro Disney
I had to get myself to a retail finance conference here.
It is a Japanese hotel with a two Micheline star Tepenyaki restaurant.
Last night I almost had to be carried out of there I ate
so
much...
What will I tell Jahanshah when he asks me about my diet?
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