by Prashant Naikwadi
Part I: The Morning & The Hotel
I woke up in the morning, pretty excited at the fact that I was going to the concert! But more importantly, I was one of the contest winners on Aishwarya Rai’s website, and I had won 2 free tickets to the show, and also a “Meet & Greet” with her in person!!! I was uneasy about that part because my Mom had called the promoter last night and he was busy, but he did say earlier in the week that I could meet Aishwarya at her hotel, the Sheraton Parkway, at noon on Sunday. So I felt pretty good. My Dad and my younger sister were coming with us too because they bought tickets next to us.
The car ride wasn’t long because, we live only like an hour away from Toronto. I tried to plan what to say to Aishwarya when I see her, but I couldn’t really come up with anything but plan “not to faint”. I had known about this a month ago but I still wasn’t prepared!
We got to the hotel at 11:30 a.m. We met the promoter wife’s, and his sister-in-law, and they said Aishwarya’s flight was delayed until 1:00 p.m., so we should come back at 1:15 p.m. So my family and I went to a Tim Hortons coffee shop (it’s Canada, we have them everywhere) for lunch. I was so jumpy. Then at 12:40 p.m., a limo pulled up, and Hrithik Roshan and Shaan arrived! There were a crowd of girls waiting to see him, but I wasn’t that excited. My Mom did get their autographs though. I have to say though, Hrithik keeps himself in shape. But of course, I was waiting for the next limo…for lady of my dreams, Ash!
I waited in the lobby for a little while. I sat on this big sofa, and it felt like the minutes were passing by extremely slowly. This was unfortunately a sign of things to come. The promoter’s wife told me to wait at the doors for Aishwarya to come, and she would tell her I was the contest winner, so I could get a picture and an autograph! Then finally, the limo pulled up at 1:30 p.m.! But almost immediately, it drove to the back because there was a small crowd of people in front. I did not even get up from my seat. I was just stunned, and disappointed. My Mom was getting impatient and kept asking about Aishwarya, then the promoter’s wife got a little mad and said, “If you ask me again you won’t get to see her.” I could not believe these people, so I told my Mom to calm down, and the promoter’s wife said she would do what she can. Later, she went to Ash’s room and found out she was in a bad mood because somebody had accidentally kicked her at the airport. Also, she had to eat and take a nap. I was told Ash would meet me at the concert venue, the Air Canada Centre. I met the promoter too, and he said he would take care of it and make sure it happened. However, they did not give backstage passes to me and my Mom, just their word; but with 20 000 people and security all around, I didn’t feel good about my chances of meeting with Aishwarya.
I sat back down to wait until 4:30 p.m. to see if she could see me before she left in the limo to go to the show. It was the longest, most painful, 3 hours of my life. Then I was told there could be a chance to catch her before she left for the show. But I got kicked out of the elevator lobby along with everybody else. Then, at 6:00 p.m., Shaan came out and signed up some autographs, and went inside a limo. Then Aishwarya RUSHED out this side door into a limo, said “Hi”, and before I could even get a chance to say “Aishwarya”, she was gone. She looked so beautiful for the 5 seconds that I saw her, but I just felt like sinking into the ground. There was no choice but to just go to the Air Canada Centre and see if I could meet her there I didn’t care about Hrithik or anybody else coming out, I just wanted to get to the ACC. My Mom talked with the promoter’s wife again, and she said to call her on her cell phone at the concert to make arrangements. She also said to talk to Shirin, a lady whom my Mom also talked with, because she could take us backstage, hopefully. I started to get a little sick to my stomach, and I refused to eat anything, I was in such a bad mood. On the ride there to the ACC, I just started imagining how would I react if I didn’t get to meet her…it was not a good feeling. I felt I would be crushed for weeks to come. But there was still hope…
Part II: The Concert at Air Canada Center
See my ticket here
When we got there, we had terrible seats up top because the curtain was in the way, but the ticket guy immediately gave us new ones on the lower level. Again, this was the least of my worries. A fashion show was just ending, it was being held by these local stores in Toronto. So there was still a little time before the Bollywood stars came out.
After a long introduction by some sponsors and hosts, Celina Jaitley kicked things off with a song from “Janasheen”. I had my binoculars so the view was nice. That kind of made me a little relieved. Shaan did some songs – he is a great singer and he held the crowd’s attention very well. Sajid Khan was the host, and he cracked some funny jokes. Lara Dutta came out and gave a very enthusiastic performance as well, with her Aisa Jadoo song from “Khakee”. Then (HOLD YOUR EARS) Hrithik Roshan came out, and the arena went crazy, (obviously the girls were screaming), and then Fardeen Khan came out on his crutches to do some Q & A with the audience. It was pretty funny, all the girls asked to marry him, then this boy asked a question, and Fardeen said, “I hope you don’t want to marry me too!” It was too bad he could not perform. THEN Aishwarya came out to do her Devdas number, and I could see her left foot was taped up. She did a great job nevertheless. She thanked the crowd for their love and support, and I just sat thinking, “Am I ever going to meet you…the closest I can get to see you is through binoculars….” I started to really feel emotional.
My Mom yanked me out of my chair because Shirin was the woman who went around passing the microphones to people during Fardeen’s Q & A! We got down to floor level but we couldn’t find her. We walked around some more, but security made us go back. We came back to our seats and I felt like giving up. I am a pretty emotional guy, but I wasn’t about to cry, at least not yet. My Mom made me get up again to walk around on the floor, and we watched Aishwarya and Hrithik do a duet from “Khakee” and “Koi Mil Gaya”. The next item was to win “free pillows signed by Aishwarya”, and two lucky people won them – I was just speechless and frustrated because here I was, contest winner and all, with nothing to show for. Celina, Hrithik, Lara, Shaan, and Aishwarya came out for some other song numbers, and then finally they did the finale. I was barely watching any of it with all the running around. Security made us go around again, and my Mom and I nearly got lost. We tried calling the promoter’s wife like 5 times on the cell phone but couldn’t get through. I was not enjoying this at all. I did see catch the last bit of Aishwarya’s “Ishq Kamina” finale, and that was incredible.
There was nothing left to do but try to get backstage. All I had was a printed out page from Aishwarya’s official website that had a list of the contest winners and my name on it. Security was really tight, they only let people with wristbands back in, which I didn’t have. Then all of a sudden, I saw the promoter’s wife and her sister, and they got me through a couple of “checkpoints.” They didn’t let my Mom come along, so I had to take the digital camera myself. It was ridiculous, because it said, “you and a guest can meet Aishwarya”. Nothing was being handled fairly for me up to this point. But it didn’t matter, it was the heat of the moment; you just have to go with what you got. I kept taking deep breaths to calm myself, and I felt helpless because security was not even letting the promoter’s family in! It felt like an eternity before we got through to this hallway. Then this person came out and said, “You’re waiting for nobody, nobody is coming out, you can go home, just walk out this curtain.” I felt like dying there. I did not want to picture myself dealing with this for the rest of my life. My once in a lifetime opportunity was disappearing before my eyes. THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, I saw the promoter! He took his sister-in-law, and almost forgot who I was, then realized I was the contest winner. He let me down the hall…………………………………….
Part III: The World's Most Beautiful Woman
The next couple of minutes went by so fast, but it was the greatest couple of minutes of my life. I waited outside this door that had a sign “Aishwarya Rai” taped on, and I was thinking “This is crazy, it’s actually going to happen!”.I went in, and looked over the shoulder of someone in front of me, and I nearly tipped over. I’m not joking, my weight shifted from my right leg to my left foot. It was the second time today that I saw her, but SHE LOOKED STUNNING. Immediately, I noticed her bright green eyes, and they are unbelievably BEAUTIFUL. Her eyes formed this brief, flashing but compassionate stare towards me. I must have looked like an idiot, I do not even know now. Then a woman came over to me and she found out I was one of the contest winners. Ash came over (this all felt like a dream) and she was like “Oh, OK!” and I said, “This is a dream come true…”, and she said “Awwwwwwwwwww…” and flashed this great smile, and fluttered her eyelashes….(Looking back now, I am proud of myself that I didn’t faint from shock!) I asked her to sign my page with the Contest Winners list, and she did. She asked me if I enjoyed the show and if I had good seats, and I just had to lie to her, because she seemed so happy to meet me, so I said, “Yeah, they were good seats and the show was good.” I know she had gained 20 pounds for Bride & Prejudice, but there was barely a hint of it on her now.
I was lost looking at her eyes more than anything else. I got that woman to take a picture of us, but the flash didn’t work so I put it on for the next two pictures. Ash leaned next to me for the picture – I COULD HAVE DIED AND THOUGHT I WAS IN HEAVEN! She asked me what I was doing, and I said I was in Grade 11 and I someday hope to be a doctor. She said she originally wanted to be that too, or something like that. I can’t really remember, she was talking so fast, (in perfectly fine English for those of you who are skeptical). I asked about her foot, and once again, I don’t exactly remember what she said, something along the lines of “we practiced anyway because we’re morons…” I apologize for not giving a detailed account here, but you don’t understand – I was lost in her eyes, I could not help myself. Then she stopped talking, and I felt our time was coming to an end.
I remembered one of my friends told me to ask for a hug, and I thought “What the hell, this is your only chance Prashant”. So, in a cracked out, quiet voice, I said, “Can I get a hug?” She smiled and put her arm out and hugged me!!! It happened so fast, just like everything else. Then I gave her this video CD I made of her movie clips assembled with music in the background. This had taken me months to make on the computer, so I handed it to her and said, “I made this for you, someday I hope you get to watch this on a computer or DVD player…” I drawled off I think because she took the video CD from my hands. I will never forget the look on her face – she was surprised, I think, a little taken aback that a fan would give her a gift, and she was looking at it with her eyes wide open. I saw this guy sitting on the sofa there, he said “Congratulations” to me, and I walked out the room without turning back. I thanked the promoter’s sister-in-law for all her help, and ran down the hallway, out the Air Canada Centre to meet my family, BREATHLESS. That day had the potential of being either the worst day or the greatest day of my life. It ended up being without a doubt, the greatest day EVER. I will never ever forget that experience, the people, the concert, and the most beautiful woman in the world, Aishwarya Rai.
Looking back, I wish I would’ve said more to her, or tried to stay longer, but I guess that doesn’t matter anymore. There is no point thinking about what I could have done. I am just happy with what did happen. I am incredibly overjoyed to say the least, and I hope and will do my best again to find a way to see her in the future.
Thank you Aishwarya, you are the greatest, I LOVE YOU, and will always admire you in whatever you do. I will definitely never forget those green eyes.
