MIDDLE: Gentleman & A Villain

My family felt we knew Amrish Puri on a personal level because of a chance meeting my uncle had with him.
My uncle was posted at Staff College, Wellington, in the late 80s. Amrish Puri was in Ooty shooting for a film. My uncle happened to bump into Puri in Ooty. Not being a great fan of Hindi movies, he could not quite place Amrish Puri but found him to be very familiar.My uncle could not contain his curiosity and asked him, "Have we met before?" Puri was so humble that he just gave my uncle a shy smile. My uncle persisted, "I don''t know whether you are from the Army, Navy or the Air Force. Are you from the Staff College?" This misconception finally compelled Puri to admit that he was an actor.
A few years later, my uncle heard that Puri was shooting for a movie at the base where my uncle was posted. He went up to Puri and recounted the incident of the previous meeting with him. Puri had a sharp memory and recalled the event. Formalities were exchanged and Puri said that he might drop in at my uncle''s place. With this, the two men took leave of each other. My uncle least expected him to keep his promise. Surprisingly, the same evening brought with it a note from Puri asking whether it was convenient for my uncle, if he came for dinner.
Usually, the cantonments are quite far away from the market with hardly any vegetable shops nearby. Most of the supplies are provided by the ration trucks, which come only once a week. With dwindling vegetable supply in the refrigerator, there was a crisis situation in the house and tempers were running high. The maid was sent on a rescue mission. But she returned with only a few rotten bhindis. Finally, an SOS was sent to the neighbours, with a note announcing the impending arrival of Puri for dinner. Puri''s name was sufficient to put the entire machinery in top gear. All the officers pitched in to give anything remotely exotic available in their refrigerators. Puri really relished the meal and the dinner was a grand success.
At the end of the day, my uncle was forced to change his opinion about Bollywood actors. The villain of the piece turned out to be a thorough gentleman, leaving everyone impressed. Despite all the goof-ups, it was apparent to everyone — Mogambo khush hua.