DEV USS DIN DIANA AUR MOTHER TERESA

For the last five days, I have been thinking that August 31 has got something special to do with my life - BY ALI PETER JOHN

I normally don't forget dates and events associated with them. It was only this morning that the light dawned on me.

I knew that it was a day when both Mother Teresa and the beautiful and yet so simple Princess Diana had died.

I was lucky to have met Mother Teresa and even speak a few sentences with her during which she told me that she needed money more than flowers and asked me pass the message around the huge crowd waiting in a queue to only have a glimpse of her at her Vile Parle home where she was sitting on an ordinary coir mat, with not even a simple pillow to support herself.

In the queue were Dilip Kumar and his beautiful begum Saira Banu and many other celebrities from different walks of life, all of them carrying huge bouquets.

She was in her eighties and had still noticed the people carrying bouquets and asked me if I could tell them what she told me about her need for more money than flowers, money which she needed to take care of the growing number of lepers and other "rotting" human beings she and her Missionaries of Charities had picked up from the streets.

Princess Diana was the woman who I couldn't take my eyes of when I first saw her as the fiancee of Prince Charles.

I had been following all her activities even after she had married Prince Charles and for some reasons of my own, I found some striking similarities between the two women of two different ages and in two different circumstances, but Princess Diana was also doing service to the mankind, to the poverest of the poor, the unknown AIDS patients and the victims of minefields, besides her breaking several traditions of royalty.

She was like any other wife and any other mother who took her sons to school herself and brought them in the best traditions of being good human beings...

Mother Teresa was ailing and was dying of age related health problems, but the death of Princess Diana in a ghastly accident sent shock waves all over the world.

Dev Sahab ( Dev Anand) was invited as the chief guest of a function arranged in Pune , by the powerful politician and a mind behind planning the Indian Olympics, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi.

Dev Sahab, as usual wanted me to go with him in his Fiat car which he drove himself when he too was in his early eighties.

I pleaded with him to take his very faithful chauffeur, Prem with us but he refused, saying, "I last drove to Poona more than 30 years ago.

I want to try and see if I can relive that experience again". I knew how difficult it was to make Dev Sahab say no to something that he was determined to do and we started our long journey to Poona after 3 pm.

As we reached Panvel which he pronounced Pan well, I asked him to switch on the mini TV set in his car and it was a strange coincidence to see the cortege of Princess Diana driving through the streets of London and the funeral procession of Mother Teresa going through the streets of Kolkata at the same time.

Dev Sahab had forgotten about the two happenings as he was always busy with too many things working in his mind at the same time.

But the moment he saw the scenes of the two funerals, he was never the same again.

At one stage, he would thought of driving back to Mumbai as he felt it was not right to attend any function where there was any kind of celebration.

On second thoughts, he asked me to call Suresh Kalmadi and tell him that it would not be right to have his function on the same evening, but Kalmadi being a cunning and clever politician asked me to tell Dev Sahab to come to Pune and then a decision would be taken.

We had reached almost half way down to Pune and Dev Sahab saw no reason to drive back after driving for more than 3 hours.

But I knew, knowing Dev Sahab quite well that he would not attend the function, come what may or say what anyone, including Kalmadi who was supposed to be very close to Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the Gandhi family had to say.

We reached the palatial house of Kalmadi which was in the heart of the city of Pune and he gave Dev Sahab a red carpet welcome, with the scene at his house resembling one of the scenes from ancient Indian history when kings ruled.

I could see Dev Sahab sitting at the edge of one of the ornate chairs and before Kalmadi could say a word, Dev Sahab said, " Kalmadi, I think you have to cancel your event tonight, I don't think it will be right to celebrate when there is a pall of gloom all over the world".

Kalmadi pretended as if he had not heard a word of what Dev Sahab had said and was ordering his men around to make arrangements for the show.

Dev Sahab sensed what Kalmadi had in mind and he kept telling him to put off the function and when Kalmadi still didn't show signs of listening to Dev Sahab, he got out of his chair and called me and said, "chalo, Ali, I have told him what I feel and what can I do if the gentleman has no feelings?".

Mr. Kalmadi started begging and pleading of Dev Sahab to stay on and told him that he would do anything for him if he spent the night in his house and attend the function the next day at the same time.

Dev Sahab in his typical way said, "Mr. Kalmadi, don't you know that I don't life wasting time for no reason at all, I gave you this evening, but how can I give you two days just to attend a function which I know you are organising only for your own selfish interests. I am going and that's it".

We were leaving his gate, when he came running after Dev Sahab and asked him to at least have something to eat before taking the journey to Mumbai.

Dev Sahab agreed and a dinner table was organised for Dev Sahab, Kalmadi and me, with a whole lot of servants of the house waiting to serve us.

I don't know about Dev Sahab, but I was shocked to see a leader of the Congress Party serving guests with cutlery including plates, saucers, spoons, forks and even containers made of pure gold.

Dev Sahab didn't say a word but just gave me one look which said all about what he felt.

He just picked up a puri, nibbled at it and finally walked away from the dinner table and literally ran towards his Fiat and I couldn't catch up with him, we were together again and on the way to Mumbai during which I heard him hum some old songs for the first time and before he dropped me home at 11:30 in the night, he said, "that was a very bad experience, but it was also a lesson to learn about what kind of politicians we have in this country and if the picture is so bad now, I shudder to think of what it will be in the future".

On this day, August 31, I remember Mother Teresa, Princess Diana and above all Dev Sahab who the world knows as Dev Anand.

The world is a very poor place without women like Mother Teresa and Princess Diana and a saint-like man like Dev Sahab.