Ooh! What a Lovely Day!

Amid

• exchanging almost 15 e-mails with Penguin Publications and tracking the whereabouts of Ant and Dec's book, an autobiography titled "Ooh! What a Lovely Pair!" (a particular someone would like to call it harassing, but I call it customer-relations)
• going to college in district buses (scrambling around and fighting for seats. Honestly I should dedicate a blog entry for that one. Very entertaining, but very tiring. Especially if you don't get a seat for the 2 hour journey)
• and cramming my head with technical information and praying it would stay there for atleast the 2 hours of an exam duration (And I write 4 a day. Woopie!)

yes, amid all this, I got a call that afternoon from the bookstore informing me the book is here waiting for me in a neat parcel. It had successfully made its journey right from South East London to Delhi to Hyderabad and now its waiting for me to take it home from the bookstore next street.

I wanted to say, like Ant did when he got his Special Recognition Award way back when he was 27 and when he least expected it & left the audience in stitches, "Is it after 9 o'clock? Shit!" (If your brain is whirring: Why did he ask if it was after 9 o'clock? Because that's when the watershed ends. And he could swear openly on live telly. Didn't you know even that, you fool? I didn't either. So I got told off on youtube when I asked)

I realized that unfortunately, the store clerk wouldn't be left in stiches, or even find it the least amusing to hear me swear. And it wasn't after 9 o'clock anyway. It was mid-afternoon with a corridor filled with four hundred people. But I swore. Slowly. After ending the call. I could've jumped from the top floor for all I cared.

For most of you.. Wait, let me rephrase that. For all of you wondering who are these brilliant people a lovely girl like me (who's very hard to please) could be an admirer of, it's these two guys: Anthony David McPartlin a.k.a ANT (left) and Declan Oliver Joseph Donnelly a.k.a DEC (right).

They're everything I always wanted to be. As a person. Nope, not an A-list celebrity doing light-entertainment on British national television. I'm more sophisticated.

No, what I should've said was more emotional and live telly is too nerve wracking. It's not my cup of tea, if you're getting my drift. I don't like being in the lime-light. Honest. Not that it hasn't got anything to do with how horrendous I am at handling it.

One thing I was bent on making very clear was that I was not an Ant & Dec fan. I was an admirer of their personality. I admired them for how down-to-earth they are and how they enjoy what they do and do what they enjoy. And they're absolutely hilarious. Lovable & cheeky were two words associated with them all the time. No matter what happened, they kept themselves going. Their awards cabinet sums them up.

Obviously, one check of the thesaurus showed fan = admirer. Oh what the heck. Who am I kidding? I've chased their autobiography from London to Hyderabad. It's the first & only single customer copy in India bought specifically for me by Penguin Publications, India. Am I proud or what? And yes. You can officially call me a fan now.

Anyway, back to business. On hearing the news, my joy knew no bounds and I was bouncing with enthusiasm and braving the sea of people to make my way to the bookstore.

On the downside, the 2-hour wait can have its our repercussions. With the bookstore just a couple of kilometers away, I suddenly had a brainwave. I think I coined that up just now. Brainwave = Brain hit with a wave of anguish and desperation. Something on lines of: "What if there's another crazy Ant and Dec fan who's spotted the book in store and bought it immediately? Obviously. the store clerk doesn't recognize me. What if he thinks I'm that person?!"

I needn't have worried. The store clerk definitely recognizes me. Plus, nobody in Hyderabad has ever heard of Ant and Dec, except when it came from me. And I mean NO ONE.

To make a story that could go painfully longer than the river Nile, or so to say, to cut the chase, I bought the book, went home and started reading it without even meaning to. I was looking at the pictures and thought what's the harm in reading the prologue and pretty soon I was on to Chapter 2.

"Well, this is the big moment I had dreamed about every single day. What am I waiting for?" And from that moment, I forgot there was something called a physical world.

In case you're wondering what the whole deal is about: thats Ant (on the left) & Dec (on the right). And the book in their hands is their autobiography, the most awaited book of the.. Well, lets just say a really long time. For me, that is.

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Finished the book a couple of hours ago and lost track of when day become night and into day again in the process.

I still can't believe I have the book in my hand. I've got all the essentials for a perfect shoot. Me, the book, a lovely dress, the right location and a perfect pose. The only thing missing is a camera. Shame. I was hoping the little lack of it wouldn't damage the significance of the occasion. It did. Just a tiny bit.

No matter though. I'm absolutely thrilled and can't believe my eyes every time I look at the book. I'm going to finish reading it again before my family realizes I've missed dinner, breakfast and lunch yet again and condemn me from further reading. Or my sister tears it apart or hides it. She used to take the mickey out of me earlier. Now that I have the book, she could be a monster.

(But she wasn't. She was a sweet little thing and left me to deal with my newest treasure. She knew it wasn't wise to cross my path at such a critical juncture. Clever.)

So, without further ado, allow me to take leave. And pardon my over-zealous and, yet again, a very lengthy post (Sorry Sagar! I'll work on it the next time). At the moment, I'm chuffed to bits! Go on. Celebrate! Atleast for me! Look, its such a lovely day. Come on, do you need a better excuse?

Have a great time.

Deepti Richa.

PS: No. I don't fancy Ant & Dec. Although I admit they are very lovable, but our relationship is very professional. Purely on a personal basis. Or a personality basis, rather. I just totally admire their persona.