Why SRK rules

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I met Aamir Khan in the halcyon Internet days of Y2000, when the word dot com on the visiting card represented a new zeal, the symbol of risk-taking, of creating a dream global company. With Shah Rukh Khan already the reigning badshah of the web world with SRKWorld.com, Aamir became for us fledgling entrepreneurs the next best alternative. Astutely suave and certainly discerning, and with a more cerebral outlook than his other contemporaries, we met Aamir to proposition a brand ambassador role with an equity stake attached in our proposed entertainment portal. Aamir was remarkably modest, possessing down-to-earth humility, an attentive listener, and having a sharp instinct for worldly affairs. While there have been several sardonic digs at the "madness in his method acting", Aamir came across as a successful actor with a open, flexible mind-set, ready for novel experimentation. Lagaan was yet to be released, as he....

Night of 26 November

0

We were having an unusually late-dinner that evening, when my mobile rang incessantly. I am virtually a die-hard incommunicado guy post-supper time, so such intrusions are infrequent. But that evening my elder daughter was ensconced amongst friends, as one of them had just attained voting rights, so I gingerly responded to the missed call. My driver's voice betrayed an uncharacteristic anxiety; India's Taj Hotel had been attacked. I switched on the TV instantly. The first news break stated that there was firing reported at Café Leopold , a seaman's anchorage and yuppie hang-out , where over agreeable omelette and chicken fry, beer consumption beats the national average by a whopper. It could always be the handiwork of a loony man gone berserk, or inebriated by excess of bubbly, I thought. Or just some gang warfare. But that was not the case. Within minutes, the initial turmoil had assumed....