Episode 8

On the last day, god rested. As did the contestants, judges and crew. Today for the first time since we've gotten to Gokarna, everybody's sleeping in late. It's so pleasant to wake up at 8:30 and not see the scurry of activity outside my door. I feel the happiest for the spot boys and technicians. They've been working 20-22 hours a day, only catching a couple of winks while sitting in some corner during a shoot or on some scaffolding behind the stage during the eliminations.
I get out of my room at around 9:30 and go to get some breakfast. The whole place is so quiet that it almost seems strange. The only voices I can hear are a few of the crew splashing about in the pool.
After breakfast I say goodbye to the judges as I watched them pile into the cars and leave for the airport. They've really been a blast to hang out with.
It's around 11:30am and I'm sitting at the hotel computer and trying to book flight tickets for today evening. I hope I find a late evening flight so that I can relax for a while before I leave. It's noon and I just found out that the last flight today is at 4:15pm. Gokarna is 3 hours away from Goa Airport and I need to get there latest by 3:15 so that means I have to leave the hotel at 12:15. I have 15 minutes to pack!
I'm told that Kirtana's flight is at 4pm, so we'll be travelling to the airport together. I'm glad because otherwise, considering the hurry I'm in, I won't have a chance to say good bye to her. Besides, the ride to the airport should make up for my not agreeing to spend last night in her room.
I'm running around my room trying to get all my things together and stuff them into the bag when some of the crew and Nidhi walk in. Apparently, Kirtana has lost her passport and credit card worth Rs. 1 Lakh, and Rs. 5000 that Nidhi had kept in the room safe is missing. They say they're checking everyone's bags and want to know if they may check mine as well. I tell them to go right ahead; if they're checking everyone's bags I wouldn't want them to not check mine. As I run around the room trying not to forget anything, Nidhi starts to go through my stuff. I'm trying to put my bag in some kind of order but she keeps moving everything around. I really don't care, I'm in too much of a hurry to think and in a span of ten minutes the reception calls me thrice to ask me to hurry up. Rahul (the producer) walks in and asks if he can do anything to help so I ask him if he can pack the laptop for me. He very sweetly obliges and hands it to me as I charge out the door.
After hugs and goodbyes, Kirtana and I start our three-hour long journey to the airport. Five minutes into the ride, Kirtana starts to tell me how Nidhi loves to create "situations" to get attention [referring to the stuff that went missing]. An alarm bell starts to go off somewhere in my head. I know that Nidhi likes to keep a relatively low profile and isn't Kirtana the one who's always in some kind of emergency or another? Besides, it's strange that Kirtana's so cool after losing her passport and credit card. Kirtana goes on to tell me that Nidhi has been throwing accusations my way all morning saying that I stole their stuff. She supposedly tried to suggest to Nidhi that it could have been anybody, but Nidhi refused to listen.
I don't generally lose my temper but this is just too much. I immediately call the hotel front desk and ask to speak to Nidhi. When she picks up the phone, I don't hold back the profanities as I tell her in simple words that it is not cool to make accusations without any proof. I have been really nice to them and I do not deserve to be treated like this. The expletive-friendly shouting match between Nidhi and me continues until she starts to tell me that it was Kirtana who told her that I'd spent the night in their room and told her that I was probably the thief.
It's at that point that both Nidhi and I start to get the feeling that maybe we've been played. Kirtana was the one who insisted I sleep in their room last night and she knew that I hadn't, so why did she tell Nidhi that I had? Nidhi tells me that maybe Kirtana's playing both sides. Once I hang up Kirtana is curious and asks me what Nidhi had to say, but I just say, "Never mind" and kept quiet.
Around an hour later, I get a call from Rahul. The sportswear, swimsuit, designer outfit and accessories that were lent to Kirtana during the course of the show have not been returned to the stylist. I hand Kirtana the phone and she tells him that the sportswear is in the bathroom, the swimwear in the laundry basket and the designer wear and accessories in room A7 where the girls got their makeup done last night.
Rahul calls back ten minutes later. They've checked everywhere and nothing is where she said it would be.
It is all getting rather suspicious. Over the phone, Rahul even tries to get me involved in the search. But in the end, there isn’t any solid evidence.
This is certainly not the way I want to end what has been a spectacular experience down in Gokarna with the models, judges and crew from Channel V.



oh man…this seems to be interesting..hope they find out who the real culprit is..hope they show it on tv..
Comment by anita — July 25, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
hahahahahahhahahahah funny stuff.. valsa they should show you more often man.. i want to watch n listen to the phone convo between you n nidhi..on ur way to the airport. i think kirtana is such a cunning cat
Comment by dipti — July 27, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
nidhi is Exotic Hot !!! i was suprised how come she dint steal the show !!! the jury really need to go get a new life for themselves !!!
Comment by bhavin — November 29, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
i like the figure of iris
Comment by faryalimran — July 19, 2008 @ 11:17 am