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'Arre, he is that guy who makes computers'

Every journalist worth his salt had encountered the sultan of software in New Delhi. Every journalist worth his salt in Bombay awaited his arrival. An interview with Bill G after all makes for a super resume.

The summer heat was telling at Bombay’s Santa Cruz airport and the humidity made the sweat as pleasant as an army of ants in your armpit.

Inside sources had whispered on the phone, "Bill Gates’s chartered flight will be landing at 1930 hours IST. Be there." Prepared after a quick briefing by the infotech editor who gave the hopeful Bill Gates interviewee the once over and grudgingly dished out details of the IT scenario in India and possible questions that could be thrown at Gates. All this had to be finished in the little time he took to get to his limousine.

At 1900 hours the airport was the usual throng of relatives awaiting dear ones to be carted off to their respective homes. In this melee a group of photographers kept vigil, wiping their lenses, smoking their cigarettes tensely, down to the butt, everyone waiting for someone to inadvertently drop some information they themselves may have missed.

The airport manager revealed that Gates could come out of either exit. Since Gates was not all that fat, we had no doubt he could. What the manager actually meant was that he either did not know from where Gates would go or he would not tell.

One of the exits is fairly open (the one which we hoped he would pop out of) while the other is a barricaded exit through which VVIP limousines are allowed on to the tarmac to collect the waiting dignitary.

The authorities would not even reveal what time his plane would land. One junior officer curiously asked the classic question: "Who is this Bill Gates?"

At 1930 hours, out of the open exit a flash of straw-coloured head showed. The paparazzi waited expectantly for the face to appear. But it was a fat man with a moustache and the crowd groaned.

The minutes ticked away and calls to various newspaper offices revealed no change in Gates’s schedule. Dismayed photographers milled around, sipping Coke and coffee. Then a new idea struck. If Gates was accorded top security, maybe the airport police would know.

At the airport police office, a cop chomping on a wad of tobacco asked us what we meant by our intrusion. We told him we wanted to talk to the senior officer.

" Yes?" the officer asked.

"Sir, Mr Bill Gates will be arriving in Bombay. Could you please tell us what time?"

"Who are you?"

"Sir, we are journalists."

"Ah!" A huge smirk split his face. "No, we don’t know anything about him. So who is this guy?"

A fellow cop dropped a pearl of wisdom. "Arre, he is that guy who makes computers."

Finally, a constable took pity on our motley bunch and directed us to the deputy commissioner’s office where a tired-looking gentleman shuffled through a sheaf of papers on his desk till he found the valuable piece of information, "Bill Gates is arriving at 2300 hours IST."

We happily marched out of the DCP’s office. It would be a long wait though.

As we settled to discuss the World Cup, we spied drivers clad in spotless white uniforms flash placards with various names. One of them told us they were waiting to pick up a group from Microsoft.

The arrival corridors started to bustle again as part of the Microsoft contingent made its way into Bombay. Catching hold of one employees, we asked her whether Mr Gates had arrived?

"I dunno."

Is he arriving at 2300 hours?

"I dunno"

"Can we have your visiting card?"

"Sorry, I don’t have one." That settled that.

Meanwhile, some scribes netted the PR personnel, who happily told us that "Mr Gates will be arriving tomorrow early in the morning."

As time passed, our big group began thinning till finally there were only four of us left. Another round to the airport manager’s office revealed that Gates was indeed coming in at 2300 hours and that he would be coming in from the main exit. Former Bombay Congress boss Murli Deora and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan president and former Maharashtra governor C Subramaniam have just gone into the airport along with the security staff to meet Gates.

The photographers began testing out various angles and jostling themselves into key positions. There was a huge silence because now even the local crowds knew Gates was about to arrive. Half an hour later some one shouted "Hey, he is coming."

Everyone craned towards the exit. Suddenly a flutter of feet announced the arrival of the man himself. Clad in a black suit and a light blue shirt and wearing his trademark spectacles with frames as light as his eyes, Gates came out surrounded by four security guards whose hands formed a human chain around him.

The photographers pushed each other to get a good shot while the security men kept pushing them out of the way. A white Mercedes door opened and Gates got in. The door was shut by another security guy and Gates was whisked away. Thirty seconds was all the time this exercise took.

"Did you get him?" asked one weary photographer of another.

" I hope so," said another, adding, "Anyway we can always get him tomorrow." After all, tomorrow is another day.

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