"Mind your business, woman. Teaching me how to travel," he roared, walking up and down, noisily. None attempted to restrain him for the fear of facing some rude music.

The Indian Airlines touched base and the actors stepped out. A record crowd awaited their arrival. A huge shouting of "Hail superstar Rajinikanth, long live our Thalaivar," ranted the air, making all other stars look like pygmies.

Rajinikanth took no notice of the shouting crowds. Having ignored the call of nature, he had been desperate for a leak. The other actors were mobbed and taken straight to the stage. The flight had been 10 minutes late.

"Excuse me, I would like to take...," but an uneasy, desperate Rajini was not allowed to complete his sentence.

"Oh food, of course sir, the function will be over in an hour, and we have arranged a sumptuous meal for all of you," the organizer said cutting him short enthusiastically. His star stuck eyes gazed at Rajini.

"No, I want to...," but his words were drowned in "Vazhga Thalaivar, hail superstar, annan, hail, victory to brother Rajinikanth" shouts. They wanted to see if Rajinikanth the hero was real, a human with skin, flesh and blood. They wanted to feast their eyes as much as they could, appeasing their hunger to meet their favourite hero.

Quite naturally Rajini was irritable. His mind was in turmoil, adding to the physical agony. The fact that the podium was set for his maiden stage talk frightened him. He looked a mess. When Siva Kumar was making a lengthy speech, Rajinikanth quietly sneaked down, rushed back stage, found a dark hole under the make-shift poles and relieved himself. 'Couldn't contain myself,' he heaved a sigh of relief, ignoring the alarmed and embarrassed backstage onlookers.

Rajini wanted to sleep. The droning of the organizers and other actors was like a lullaby to him. He didn't care for the words of praise. All he wanted was to stretch out and sleep. How many months had it been since he slept for more than six hours? His eyes closed against his will and his head bobbed down. He was jerked awake when the compeer announced his name. He mechanically stood up, walked to the mike like a zombie and stood there with a blank stare.

The compeer announced garlanding of the star. A huge garland made of red roses was thrown around his neck, pressing him down. Rajini didn't know what came over him. A veil descended over his eyes. He could not understand what the was doing. Fatigue, lack of sleep, stress and psychosis overpowered him together. He plucked the roses from the garland vigorously and showered them on his head. He went to the mike and spoke incoherently, Kannada, English, Hindi and Marathi all mixed. He thanked the stunned audience and, after receiving his memento abruptly left.

The ceremony was over.

In the picture: Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan in Pathinaru Vayathinile

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