The beginning of every event is usually stressful because everyone is worried if all will go well, if the chief guest will come on time, the house will be full and the systems in place – be it the microphones, audio- visual or the performers will all deliver as planned. For the book launch of Letters to Self in Mumbai, we were all going through the same emotions at The Club Mumbai, Juhu when our chief guest Anil Kapoor strolled into the room, hands folded into a namaskar and smiling at all. The audience was instantly captivated and after that whatever he did, the audience loved him more and more.
We began the evening with the reading of the poetry, first the original by actor Ojas Rawal and then the translation by me. Anil was moved by the words even though he does not understand Gujarati and was motivated to read the translation of one of Prime Minister’s poems that impacted him deeply titled Chhodo in Gujarati and Release in English. More about the poem in tomorrow’s blog…