22nd of June, 2023.
(What I am about to describe, it was possible thanks to Shariva, Aamir’s creative assistant. Throughout the months we were talking and trying to make things work, she was always very supportive and patient. I don’t truly know why did Aamir choose to accept my request and meet me. But I am so unbelievably happy that he did and I will be always grateful for that)
What is happiness? Can we measure it? Is there a difference between an absolute instant of happiness and a dream? And how do we differ between the two of them?
On the 22nd of June, 2023, I had a daydream. It became the most important day of my life. On that day, I experienced my happiest moment… my favourite moment until now.
When he enters the living room, I think my heart stops completely. How to breathe?
He offers me his hand and says: “Nice to meet you!”, and gives me the cutest smile someone ever could. It is the same smile I have seen in some of his movies. He seats in the couch right next to me, on my 10 o’clock.
And then the world stops spinning, the wind stops blowing, and the sun stops shining… There is nothing else but him.
When I try to say – Thank you for having me here – he kindly says: “Not at all!”.
He asks me questions. What? Yeah, I know! Where do I leave in Brazil? / How is the weather there? / What do I do? … And of course, I answer. Well, I try… And honestly, I think I did but I am not entirely sure right now. How could someone possibly behave normally in his presence? How did I even manage to talk at all is beyond me!
I try to ask some questions too. I am shy because there are so many people in the room. Everybody is here! OK, it is actually just the five of us. Five? Yep! Aamir and Lei, Shariva, Aamir’s manager Janani, and his other assistant, Khurshed. They are all very lovely and kind to me! But I am already super nervous, and with the audience, it feels like Aamir and I are in a talk show.
We move to the table. Lunch time! Food? Of course, because I can barely breathe but eating would be great! And how on Earth can I possibly eat in front of him? Well, he helps me with that too, casually passing me a bowl with food and saying: “Here, you must try this: it is an onion curry!”, as it was just another Thursday. And me? Well… I am, again, barely believing that this is actually happening.
We chat in between bites. The food is vast and delicious! But my excitement makes me forget my manners and I don’t even compliment the food. Well done, Lei! (sarcasm)
Looking him in the eyes while he talks is a blessing! And I love the fact that he looks right back to me! He has the sweetest eyes, you know…
I am trying to look at him as much as I can without making it creepy. I just want so much to remember everything about him. I never thought I would say that in my life but even the way he keeps arranging his moustache edges it is cute.
He tells me he loves reading and he seems a bit surprised when I tell him I love it too. And I love the fact that he also read the classics! We both rather read physical books than in any other way. The smell, the texture, the flipping, and in his case, the possibility of folding the edges.
Then he asks me about my 3 favourite books. When I answer, he seems truly interested in reading them and asks Khurshed to write down the names. What? This is another moment in which I fly away from Earth. How can he possibly be so amazing? And then I messed up, of course! I am so out of my mind, so honoured with the fact that he wants to read my top 3 books, that I don’t ask him what his favourite books are! Well done, Lei! (strike 2!)
After a bit more talking, Janani is back (she had left us earlier), and that means Aamir has to go for a meeting. He seems truly surprised by the time passing and remains quiet in the chair for some moments. Was he waiting for me to say something? How could I? How could I possibly ask for more time, which would be a slight complaint about something, anything, about this moment? He gets up and leaves, saying that he needs some time.
After some minutes he comes back and he gives me a bag. “Here, that’s for you!”. I finally manage to say something decent – Please don’t give me any gift. You are my gift! – He laughs… How good it feels to make him laugh!
He sits on the couch again. And I want to believe that he doesn’t want to go to any meeting.
When I try to refuse the gift, he tells me: “It is second-hand, so you can accept it”. Now, my dear friends, can you try to understand how I felt at this moment? He paid attention and remembered what I said about only accepting second-hand clothes; and then, he went through his stuff, looking for something to give me. Yeah… he’s just that great! I am holding a black leather jacket in my hands when he tells me it was his. I drop dead on the couch, while hugging the jacket, and a vanishing “what?” dies out of my mouth. Everybody laughs, including him. I feel like gravity ceased existing and I am drowned to the centre of the Earth. I am brought back by Shariva telling us to take a photograph before he leaves for his meeting.
Everything that happens next is too extraordinary to even try to explain, but I will try.
Aamir Khan puts his arm around my waist so we can take a photograph together. Luckily for me, I asked Khurshed to take photos with my camera too, and not only with his smartphone, so I have a few more seconds under Aamir’s arm. But I have to say, that was the most out of body experience I have ever had! Honestly, it was almost as if I was not there, only my body was there, and my soul was floating above us. As if that was not good enough, after the two clicks, I was about to (reluctantly) let him go, when he held on to me (Oh, dear Lord!) because he also wanted a photograph from his phone. What? Yes. He asks Shariva to take a photograph of us from his phone. As we say in Brazil: Noa stop the arc because I want to get out!
Do you think that is finished? Do you think this is good enough for a dream coming true? Nope!
In his final act of benevolence, he gives me a hug and says goodbye. Aamir Khan gives me a hug! In the gentlest way possible, he puts his left arm around my waist, quickly rests his head on my left shoulder, and then he says goodbye. I don’t even see it coming! It was so unexpected, so out of nowhere, and again, I am like… what has just happened?
I was gone!
It takes me a few moments to come back to my senses. During this time, Aamir and Janani enter another room. I fall on the couch… His perfume is still on my right shoulder, on my t-shirt.
♥
What is my opinion about him? Well, let’s just put it this way… When we really admire someone, we tend to create an image of this person, an idea of who he / she is and why we like this person so much. So, we make ourselves believe that he / she is an incredible person, full of great qualities and reasons to be loved. Was I right about Aamir Khan? I have to say that, I could not be more right about him.
Aamir Khan is so amazingly down to Earth, mostly being who he is. If you were to meet him, without knowing he is one of the most famous, prestigious, and acknowledged actors of India, you could never tell. He is so humble, kind, simple, gentle, attentive to details and to everything that surrounds him. He knows so much about so many things, and at the same time, he talks in such a humble way, as if he is just another guy. And I love how much he knows about cinema! Aamir is a great actor and that was the reason why I became a huge admirer of his work. Now, I admire who he is as a person too. He is extremely polite, sweet and cute. He is adorable! And he is incredibly charming! He is a very handsome man in the most majestic way a man can look handsome. And I don’t think that he fully understands how amazing he actually is! I wish I just had had the chance to tell him that, to let him know that, to me, he is perfect. Well, if I am wishing for things, I wish I could spend some more time with him, to get to know him better, and let him know who I am. He made me feel so special that day, as everything was not about him but about me.
Before I used to think that I liked his characters, my favourite ones: P.K., Rancho and Nikhumb. Now I know that I like Aamir Khan!
Aamir Khan helps me to become who I am. When he gives me a hug, I am in heaven, I become heaven’s flower. That’s the meaning of Leilane.
And trying to answer the questions on the beginning of the post… I know this was not a dream because, in the opposite of one, there was not that weird feeling we have when we are dreaming, you know? That odd feeling that something is quite not right, which is your brain telling you that this is not real. When I met Aamir, all I felt was happiness. A pure and great sense of rightness and realization. Everything was just so… good. I used to think of my dreams as something wonderful! I used to love to go to sleep only because I knew I would have dreams and remember them next day. And boy, I used to love dreaming! But I got addicted to them. Aamir changed that. After meeting him, I finally realize that, no matter how good your dreams seem to be, nothing is better than when you can, in real life, look into the eyes of someone, listen to the voice of this person, feel his perfume, and be given a hug. I don’t know if it is possible to measure happiness. But if it was, this moment of my life, would have reached the highest point. Can it get any better?
“काश this, काश that…”
10 Years Around the World 