Yesterday I dined with Peter Costello. Peter Costello has been the deputy PM of Australia for 14 years and treasurer for 11. So that makes him a big political and public figure of this nation. And yet he sat in a corner of a little Indian restaurant with a friend quietly eating his dinner. Sitting in the adjacent table, I was bowled over by this the whole evening. I couldn't help staring at him now and then, searching for some kind of body guard whispering importantly into an invisible ear piece or even a long fleet of official cars for heaven's sake. There were none. It was just Peter, his friend and the lovely food. Everyone else ignored him, it was like a huge mogul lost in anonymity.
See, in India things are different. And I have grown up in that difference and find it hard to let celebrities and public figures be. We stare, we whisper, we point hurriedly and heads turn, we might even approach and quickly click our cameras/ cell phones away for proof, and we would find something....anything to get an autograph on. Imagine a neta of our country spending his evening quietly in a corner and then slipping away into the night unnoticed afterwards. Well...be honest...you tried hard but couldn't really imagine that could you?
As I remember, wherever a politician goes, ruling party of not, a fleet of cars follow him. Roads are blocked and the harrassed public is forced into taking narrow diversions that invariably lead to the next point of blockage. In fact the South Indian comedian Vivek expressed this point with great wit and humor in one movie. He is on his way to an interview on his bike when at a signal a traffic cops stop him and all others. When asked they say a minister is passing by. So he looks as far as he can see for a convoy but there is nothing there. All of a sudden, high above, everyone hears a loud whoosh and the cops look towards the sky and salute. The dot of a plane high up in the sky carries our neta away while traffic on the roads have been halted indefinitely. Frankly, this isn't too far from the truth in our country, is it?
If the minister were someone important and if he went out to a restaurant to dine, they would have probably closed off an entire section of the hotel to keep it exclusive for him and his party. The entrance would have been thronging with media and public to question him or pass on requests or complaints. That is what I have seen and am used to...and here sat Peter Costello calming passing a regular evening away.
I must admit and appreciate the greatness of this country. Australia prides itself on being informal and friendly and they have surely achieved it. Everyone has their place in society and are equally respected. Celebrities and politicians get their dues but they are not passionately followed and worshipped like the Indian counterparts. After his term as Prime Minister, John Howard went back to his house in a regular suburb and continues to lead a normal life there. While I don't mean to belittle the ways of my countrymen, I definitely appreciate the sense of equality this country believes in and the dignity each profession carries. Nothing is looked down upon and a celebrity and a regular employee could dine in the same restaurant without any fuss. Being a politician is just another job and therefore that makes him just another person.
But me being Indian and all, I couldn't help staring and whispering and hopelessly trying to find my camera or a piece of paper to get some proof of the evening.
