'Only a Truly Warmhearted Man Would Notice a Crying Child': A Journalist Remembers Dharmendra

In the lobby of Mount Everest Hotel in Darjeeling in the mid-Sixties, a little boy was crying. His parents had gone out for a bit, and he was missing them. One of his father's friends, also staying at the hotel, noticed. "Who is the child?" he asked. When the hotel staff briefed him, he cancelled his appointments, sat down and played with the child till the parents returned. Only a truly warmhearted man would notice a crying child in a hotel lobby, stop and play with him till the parents got back. Here's a famous man, a Bollywood great, who decides his work in Darjeeling can wait; he'd rather see the boy smile. It was Dharmendra, who passed away today. The little boy was Yours Truly.Many, many decades later, when I was covering Parliament, I met

his wife, Hema Malini, the BJP MP. Introducing myself, I shared my visiting card with her with the words "Your husband and my father knew each other." About 45 minutes later, I got a call. "Srinjoy, this is Dharmendra. How are you?"A call from Bollywood's Asgaard is meaningful enough; Hema Malini would have messaged/called almost immediately. Who'd believe great stars have the memory of elephants? Or have much empathy? Maybe their auras are as big as the Woolly Mammoths that died out 10-12,000 years ago and are being "recreated" in laboratories like the Dire Wolf" and in some cases, have egos of that size. They'd remember applause, people falling over them for a selfie, but a crying child? Dharmendra did; he was shooting a film in Darjeeling, he said, when he saw me in the lobby. "I see you on television (on TIMES NOW) very often. You remind me of your father (Vasant Chowdhury, the actor and numismatist)." It says so much about the man... and he was only about 30, then. He too had young children... and during the filming in the picturesque hill-station, would have thought of them. Did he have to pick up the phone all these years later? Did he have to be as cheery and encouraging as he was? Did he have to bring up a cold morning in West Bengal? After a lively conversation, and Sholay, one of his iconic films came up, he asked: "Do you come to Mumbai? When you do, please come and see me." I promised him I would. Now, the lights have gone out... I regret I never did.