Amit Varma's Visit to Bangalore

I had written this post in May but could not post it anywhere. Here it is now....

Amit Varma (http://indiauncut.com/) was in Bangalore on Saturday the 16th of May and this was 1 event I had wanted to attend from the time I heard about it several weeks back. He was here to launch his first novel ‘My Friend Sancho’. I have been following his blog from a couple of years now and he writes amazing stuff.

So it was a rainy evening and I managed to get to the ‘Crossword’ without getting wet in the rain :). By the time I reached there he had already finished addressing the gathering and was signing the books for the buyers. I stood in the queue to buy 1 for myself. Finally when my turn came after 15 minutes, our conversation went like this….

Myself : Hi Amit. I have been a regular at Indiauncut and I think you write extremely well and I particularly love the satire that comes out of your political commentary. Its really nice to have met you.
Amit Varma : Thank you so much. Its always nice to hear good things about the work you do and it sometimes feels overwhelming as it has been over the past 1 week. So you write too??
Myself : YES I DO AND I AM QUITE SURPRISED YOU HAVE NOT HEARD ABOUT ME….
Ok fine i did not say that….
Myself : Well I used to…rather blog…but not anymore… I read a lot though….
Amit Varma : Cool. I should be addressing this book to....
Myself : To me please. Thank you. My name is Shantidoot. Spelt S H A N T I D O O T.

And he writes this in the book….
Dear Shantanu
Hope you enjoy this book
- Amit.
Signature.
May 16 2009.
…..which I read only after getting out of the queue…. Damn you Amit Varma :(. This has to happen every time I say out my name :(.
Anyways he has got such bad hand writing :).

I pay for the book(Only 195 Rs) at the counter and pack it in my bag and go towards my bike. It had stopped raining. As I go closer towards my bike I see a strange activity. I go even closer to make sure what I see is actually happening….. it was indeed happening….
A guy was wiping the seat of my bike, and what more he was using the same cloth that I keep in my bike to wipe the bike when it rains…..
I went closer till he wiped it completely dry and then said “Thank you, I will take it from here”.
He looked at me surprised and then he understood what had happened. His bike was parked next to mine :)….. I know … LOL….
His expression was something like this “God I just hope he is not the kind of guy who blogs about funny incidents and makes fun of me”.

Yes I did just that. I came home read the wonderful book and on a Sunday evening I write about his goofiness and send it to all my friends. Victory :)
My friend Sancho is a very nice read, lot of jokes, some funny some vulgar and some PJs too but overall it will make you laugh. The ending in the book is just as I love it, It hangs the readers in the middle asking ‘what happens next?’ Hope you enjoy reading it too….

Take care.
c'est la vie