SHASHI KAPOOR

 It was September 1990. I was based in Kuwait, which was under Iraqi occupation those days. Initially, we all were stranded as there was no flight out of the occupied country. Things eased up a little after a while and people were allowed to leave from Baghdad airport. Indian embassy in Kuwait also advised the Indian citizens to evacuate gradually.

 Fortunately, my wife and children were already in India when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I was in a hurry to get back home as I had no communication with them for more than a month.

 On a fateful evening, I, along with a few friends and their families, boarded a bus from Kuwait to Baghdad with the objective of taking a flight out of Baghdad to Amman in Jordan. Air India was operating a few flights from Amman  to Mumbai to evacuate the Indian citizens. The bus ride was quite scary. Damaged cars, burnt buses were strewn alongside the road from Kuwait to Iraq.  There were horrifying stories of atrocities committed by the Iraqi army. Kuwaiti citizens were imprisoned and tortured. They were generally soft with Indians but fear prevailed everywhere. Many Indian expatriates had their cars seized and houses raided.

 The ride out of Kuwait was trouble free. Out first brush with the authority occurred after an hour’s drive. A group of soldiers set up a barricade on the road and stopped our bus. A sinister looking soldier entered with an automatic rifle pointing to the passengers and yelled in Arabic, - Who are you and where are you headed?

 We obviously panicked but managed to murmur; - We are Hindis (Indians in Arabic). The guy’s face softened a bit but his voice had the same authoritarian pitch, - Kullu Hindi (All Indians)?  We mumbled a soft and polite, - Naam (yes). He suddenly smiled broadly, looked around and said, - Shashi Kapoor maujud (Is Shashi Kapoor here)? He broke into a big guffaw admiring his own humour as we smiled nervously. He dismounted and a signalled us to proceed. He was still smiling as the bus left the barricade behind.

The memory of this apparently insignificant event is haunting me since yesterday when the TV channels broke the news.

Rest in peace Shahshi Kapoor.

5 December 2017