WHAT HAPPENED IN THE KIRAN BEDI LECTURE

Let me tell you what happened at Kiran Bedi's lecture the other day. I assume you know who Kiran Bedi is (uhmmm, if you dont, update yourself :P).

The ICSR hall (Thats were all the 'stud' lectures take place) was completely packed with people, all in anticipation of the arrival of the first woman IPS officer of India. She, I must tell you, is an awesome personality. AWESOMEEEE !! would be an understatement. This is applicable to both the looks as well as the character. She has bobbed hair style and a unique dressing sense ( I dont mean to be shallow, there are reasons behind this sentence). Ah ! why the bother. I'll put in a pic so that you can see her if you already haven't.

So coming back to the point. There we were, on the tips of our toes, in a room stuffed with people waiting to a glimpse of the star. The stage has a side door through which all the VIPs come into the hall. Our eyes where glued to the door, and someone of us seemed to have almost forgotten to blink our eyes now and then. Then, we saw her. She had the same hair style we had seen in the pics and almost the same 'figure'. The hall went 'awwww' and thunderous applause rang through out the room. We all stood up in respect. Everything was going perfect except for the fact that, she wasn't she. Yes, She wasn't she. She was a 'paavam' professor's wife, probably a fan of Mrs Bedi, who was as 'enthu' about seeing her as we ourselves were. The crowd soon realized the mistake and sighed in disappointment and then burst out laughing . Half of the people, who hadnt managed to get any seats laughed at us, the 'stupid souls' who couldnt recognize the celebrity and had stood up to wish the impostor. We on the other hand, laughed at each other.

Laughter soon died out and the crowd lapsed back to the 'anticipatory mode ". Then a dude in the front row, clearly some student representative, got up and went to the stage. All of us eagerly looked at our leader waiting for his words of wisdom. "We have with us.." he began .."a unique icon. A lady who has made her mark. Her father's fond daughter and that of the nation...."
As I sat there, wondering why he was saying all this when she hadnt even arrived, he paused. At first I thought he 'bulbed'. You know, that he forgot his lines. I waited for the rest of the speech feeling sorry, as he blushed badly on the stage. Then I noticed his eyes. Some prof at the front row was telling him something. He got of the stage and the hall rung with the sound of laughter for the second time. The 'genius' that I am,I laughed too, thinking that he was just bulbing. Then, it struck me. He hadnt bulbed. He had just lived upto the post he was holding. Even when his faithful followers had realised their folly, their master hadn't. Quite conviniently assuming that the imposter lady was the original he had climbed up the stairs to deliver his mugged up speech and be done with it. Thankfully for him or us or for Mrs Bedi, the prof interfered in time to spare us the bother of the boring speech twice.

Within the next fifteen minutes the guest of honour arrived and much to our amusement he got on to the stage again. It was just so damn embarassing. I would have dropped dead then had I been him. However, he didnt seem to have any such intentions. Quite confidently, he adjusted the mike, and began, ' Today we have with us, a unique icon..." The audience put fullstops to each of his sentences with claps ,snorts and roarng laughs. I sat there and wondered if Mrs Bedi would be wondering what was so funny about her biography. Anyway, the dude finished his speech and soon enough Bedi began hers.

Later , as Bedi proceeded to list out the 3 M's of success ( being a Master in our fields, a useful Member of our society , and achieving the higher Meaning of life), I leaned forward to get another glance of our dear representative. He sat in the front row, listening to the speech as if nothing happened ( a forgery of emotion??). Traces of embarrassment on his face seemed to have disappeared into nothingness. For the first time, I felt a little admiration for him. Clearly he had just mastered the 3 M's.


{ For those who dont understand the slang:
'paavam' = naive, enthu= enthusiasm , to bulb= to goof up}