Hello everyone!!!
First of all I have to apologize that I did not take a pic with the books - the last week was very hectic as with my daughter coming to Mumbai - getting her stuff done/family commitments and work had a project that got pre poned i was working on 4-5 hours sleep for most of the week.
And then Vani, tamanna, hubby and mom stressing over the meeting date and times. I would have continued with my plans and just taken the time out when needed but that is not how it works for the rest so things got busier.
I did have a long list of things to cover with him and I had made notes - even Vani was impressed although she is the one who has been sending me stuff and I just collected it together. I wanted to make sure I covered everything in the time I had with him - I had powerpoint slides so I wouldn't forget
Ok let me first get things out on what I took with me.
-The anniversary & Bday card
-A Letter to him from HR.com
Then Vani had sent me a cover pic + 40+ pages of comments and start/ending note. So I got a book done with it. The cover was in color. Then we had b'day wishes from twitter/facebook and all the scans everyone submitted including letters. Plus a cover page. So I got all those printed out in color i put two cards on one page when they were smaller others were full size. And there were few last minute scans and all got added. I made it so that color/black white scattered so book looked colorful. Trust me it was a lot of stuff - I was at the printer's place for 2 hours - getting things printed and I had already put all the images in Word doc before so done most of the work. Then Kinnari had handed me her card in person to give him.
And then had my list of things to talk to him in 3 power point slides and detailed notes from Vani on some of them printed out.
Ok - now for the meeting. Initially meeting was scheduled for 19th but his trip from goa and then the evening launch for stardust messed up that schedule. Then it was on 23rd which was then postponed to 24th for 2 and got postponed just an hour or so before that morning. Actually i think they got busy with their meeting and so he postponed it and then was confirmed for Sat (xmas day) for 12.
So I went with my daughter - and while on my way up did see the kids going to the backyard downstairs to play. Hrehaan looks just like in the pics so adorable and fair. Hridhaan didn't see him much as they were further away. They were with a young girl. And it is so cute when all the people working for him refer to him as baba - while waiting for security at main gate to confirm with roshans - some people came down and they told the guards that if someone came for baba to let them go up and then Afsar (from Carving Dreams) came up and we went in. this time we were seated in the other side - huge room and beautifully decorated. Chatted with Afsar a few and waiting for Du. Quick notes- No concert plans as no time. TV show/Agneepath/Krrish 2 keep him busy next year + ZNMD release.
Du walks in - there is a 3 seater sofa that Tamanna (daughter) was sitting on and that one he sits on. Diagonally across I sat on a single sofa and across from me was Afsar. It was perfect as I could see his eyes all the time. Talk about his eyes showing emotions - that is all I could see. They really speak to you
It has been 4 years since we met again and tamanna had seen him 2 years ago - shook hands, merry xmas etc.. and I told him that it was right before Dhoom2 release and he was trying to recollect his fall from the horse the day before our meeting LOL
So general impression - He was much more relaxed this time, and now that he is aware of us and has been on twitter and not focused on shooting he was more receptive to ideas - was thinking of what i was saying/processing etc. asking questions and taking his time. Still the same humble person and look you can see.
It was good having Tamanna as she could giver her insight (different generation) and also Afsar. He was making notes and she was not star struck at all and actually if you hear some of her convo's it was like random stuff. And like she told him she rarely visits site/forum as she has been busy with other stuff - they talked about her school etc..
So since I was not sure on how much time they had and wanted to make sure covered everything got started with my list of things.
So first the anniv card - which he opened and both were discussing when the pic was - which photoshoot GQ/Hello they couldn't remember. He said so sweet! and thanks a million times and wow and just amazed look whenever I gave him stuff so not going to repeat that .
Oh Wafaa (Flower ) will be thrilled to know that when I gave the anniversary card and told him it was a creation from a fan the same one who had done guz first poster - Afsar mentioned her name before I did.
Ok so I first handed him the anniv card, and then the letter and told him he could read at leisure. Then I gave him the Guzaarish book. He read the start and end notes and both him and Afsar had a stunned look as he flipped through the pages including twitter i think it was 45 pages + and small font as well. He had a smile on his face and just said so sweet. I should have done double sided but didn't think of it then. I told him this was the third in the series and he says yes he still has the one from last time. He was like this is great reading for him. I told him that instead of a CD I stuck to hard copy and that way whenever he went through a low phase in life he could browse this to lift his spirits. Afsar tells him this is your early b'day gift.
Then we went over a number of issues - twitter verify, his facebook account, kites website, kites marketing and other websites - a lot of suggestions that we had collected. During our discussions - he made himself comfortable taking his chappals out and relaxing and even told tamanna why don't you sit back comfortably.
And then I handed him his b'day gift - the book that had all the scans (hand written bday wishes, drawings etc). I told him that the cover page words were not what I had come up with but it described my feelings exactly. He and Afsar both read it and at the end had a smile of gratitude that conveyed more than words. He then flipped through the scans and smiled and amazed and just kept saying this is incredible and "so sweet"/ "too sweet" and then I gave kin's card. he actually was just going to put it aside for later and tamanna tells him to open it and he says sweetly should I right now? Since Tamanna had met kins she is like I want to know what is in it as it was not flat. While they were discussing i tried calling kins since I couldn't get thru to kins on the phone tamanna asked him if it was ok to take pics and hence that shot. He then was explaining the pics to Afsar and amazed at some of the clippings. They both were looking over it.
He was overall just amazed at how people take so much time to find articles/pics/running of the site/forum/fb etc.. and the time tht goes into HIM. It truly is a team effort. Hrithik just couldn't understand how it worked - how I could become friends all over the world and meet people etc.. Since I mentioned that kavitha one of the original founders was visiting India and was actually coming to visit me. I told him I loved mentoring and this was my way of doing what I love and i have made great friends, some treat me as older sisters and even to some I am a mom.
I told him how we started - since he has kids they were interested that I joined the yahoogroup because tamanna at 10 wanted to join it and she asked me to join to check it out. Then how we became friends and when h-a shutdown I with this group of people created hrules. They asked me again when we started the site, 2003 is when we did. Actually tamanna had come up with the name hrules and we just went with it. I can't recall when Vani came onboard but original team I think was all older people in their 30's+40's and my kids 13 and 16 who did graphics etc..
Tamanna just wanted a pic as she didn't like her pic from last time with her (note: he made sure she was happy with the pic, checked it himself to ensure it was the perfect one). She didn't want one more autograph so at last minute I saw the Kites dvd that i was packing and told her to just get that autographed.
Hrithik thanked all his fans for the love and support. He said he couldnt thank us enuf for all that we had done and that whatever he was doing in return was nothing compared to what we were doing for him.
End Note: Mamta also gave him a big hug from all of us :)