"VINI, VIDI, VICI"

(He came, He saw He conquered)

(An account of India's most popular television star Shekhar Suman's visit to Patna on 2nd April 2001 - in the words of none other than his father and eminent surgeon of Patna Dr. Phani Bhushan Prasad, written exclusively for PatnaDaily.Com)

PatnaDaily,Com expresses its sincerest gratitude to Dr. Prasad for writing this article and providing pictures for this Web site. - Editor. All Rights Reserved.  

Shekhar Suman created a 'tehelka' when he surprisingly arrived on a short visit to Patna. Press, media, and innumerable fans rushed towards my house located at Lohanipur, Patna where he stayed with us. Everyone wanted to have a glimpse and chat with him. The "Banar Sena" (children) of Lohanipur gate-crashed shouting "Shekhar ki jai-jai".

Rightly, Shekhar, now a successful TV star, gets lost in his old memories when he comes to Patna. He does not like Five-star food of the hotels where he was invited for lunch and dinner. On the other hand, rice, dal and bhujia, prepared by his mother he gulps ravenously.

It so happened that on April 2nd, I was taking my siesta after the lunch in my bedroom. The phone rang and lo and behold, it was Shekhar calling from "Bandra", a locality of Mumbai; that's what he told me. After some chat he disrupted the call. After 10 minutes, the phone rang again. Shekhar said, "I am here" and he just jostled inside the house through the back door! My wife and I were taken by surprise. It was 2nd April and not the "fools' day".

We were so delighted to suddenly see him being inside without any prior information!

After resting a while, the news of his arrival spread like a wild fire. The children of the area were especially thrilled and wanted to see him. As a real life actor, he jostled with them in the lawn of my house for some time.

Patna is known for its hospitality and soon I learnt that he is invited at the famous Jalan's Quila House in Patna City at the night. He, along with his wife Alka, my wife, and myself proceeded for Patna City. (We were also asked to join the invitation). Since it was the Ramnavami Day, there was a huge procession in Patna City and we had to take a detour to arrive there.

Quila House is nearly a century old building of Patna with valuable antique collections. Shekhar was shown the sword of Akbar, among other things, and very many ancient manuscripts written in Pali. Shekhar had not seen them earlier.

We all enjoyed the lavish hospitality of Jalans who own the Quila House.

The next morning, an Ambassador car, with security guards ('bandook-dhari jawan log', as it is commonly termed here) arrived as Shekhar was invited to meet the Chief Minister of Bihar Mrs. Rabri Devi and her husband, the colorful politician Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, whom he impersonates in his popular TV Chat Show "Movers and Shakers".

Laloo Ji took him around his house, his garden and farmhouse. He gave a typical gift to him---"a packet of Parwal (a vegetable) grown in his farm and some delicious "Achaar" (pickles). When he came back after the visit, he was all praise for Laloo Ji who invited him to come back and perform "the greatest show on earth" in Patna to which he gave him his consent.

People of different shades thronged to see him. A team of "Doordarshan" came to interview him. They asked me, "What made Shekhar go for acting?". I told them, "It was his own destiny. I, of course, was clear in my mind that he won't be a doctor like me. There must be some sleeping genes inside me which has become dominant in my son".

The best words for him came out from a respected professor and ex-Member of Parliament of Patna. He said, "Shekhar, you have made the small screen look larger than the big screen".

In a turbulent day, he had little time to enjoy the delicious lunch so lovingly cooked by his mother.

However, he ended his visit and left for Mumbai in the evening.

Truly, he came, he saw and he conquered.