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Former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha suffered a rude shock during the Times Lit Fest in Mumbai on Sunday when socialite Suhel Seth questioned his presence on the sports panel of the festival.
Following the insulting encounter, the 34-year-old Rasquinha took to Twitter to shed light on Seth’s ignorance.
In a five-part tweet, Rasquinha, who is Olympic Gold Quest's Chief Operations Officer, also criticised fest director Bachchi Karkaria of being condescending.
“Had an excellent session @TimesLitFest on the next big thing in sports. And an unfortunate encounter with an obnoxious Suhel Seth. As my session ended, Suhel Seth comes on stage and says ‘don't know what that bald guy was doing on a panel on sport, whats (sic) he done’.”
“It's so disappointing when I am invited by the Times Lit fest to speak and get dissed on stage by a guy who doesn't even know who I am. Even more disappointing to have the times lit fest director Bachchi Karkaria, behave condescendingly.
"What's with these cosy clubs? I really do wonder though how Suhel Seth holds forth on everything under the sun and what exactly is his domain expertise.”
Seth was, however, quick to apologise for the incident.
“@TimesLitFest I am deeply sorry that I didn’t know who VIREN was and he has been a stellar sportsman and served Indian Hockey admirably!”
In a highly successful career, Mumbai’s Rasquinha led India to several victories and was part of the team that won the 2002 Asian Games silver medal. A member of India's Athens Olympics' hockey team, he also won the gold medal at the 2001 Junior World Cup, the 2003 Asia Cup and the 2003 Afro-Asia Games.
Image: Viren Rasquinha
Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com