26 March,2010 09:47 AM IST | | Hemal Ashar
At a press conference recently, two persons were the targets of camera flashbulbs that clicked madly at a Mumbai Marathon press conference organised to announce the charity amount collected for the 2010 edition of the race.
The first was marathon brand ambassador John Abraham who seems to have grown into the spotlight, even enjoying it. John made all the correct noises about the race, when asked to say the usual, few words. He also had the audience of organisers, journalists, charity winners and those associated with the marathon laughing with some amusing observation. The slightly-wooden, diffident demeanour was gone, the hunky John with the Popeye biceps looked comfortable and confident, to the point of being quirky with some of his answers. Post conference, he answered several queries by a battery of television journalists quite fluidly while the marathon organisers smiled at appropriate moments. While John's triceps may attract more admiration, he is getting better at talking to the press.
Sara appeared composed, feigning that the cameras were not present, clicking away in a wild frenzy
Journalistic subjects fall into several categories: those whom one has to literally squeeze out an answer from, these are called difficult people to interview. There are others who seem to talk, or shoot their mouths off, you only need to wind them up, these are journalistic delights because they often talk so much, they lend themselves to sensational headlines. The majority fall somewhere in between, like John does.
Meanwhile, the other object of press attention, or frenzy, was Sachin Tendulkar's 12-year-old daughter, Sara Tendulkar. Sara was present to collect a prize for her marathon charity efforts. Cameramen followed Sara from the dais back to her seat, next to her grandmother Annabel. Sara blinked as cameras clicked away. She appeared composed, simply pretending that the cameras were not there. The burden (and it can be a burden, given the fact that one is always in the spotlight) of being Sachin Tendulkar's daughter seemed to sit lightly on her at present. The kids, both Arjun and Sara, would have to get used to being in the spotlight as long as their father continues to make headlines. It is a price that comes with fame. One thinks Sara, who showed so much equanimity, would handle that with the same flair that Sachin is handling the bowling attacks in the current Indian Premier League.
