Ammi, main jaa raha hoon

Sallu’s new address Barrack No 1.5

JODHPUR: Sipping piping hot extra sweet tea — a peculiar delicacy of North Indian roadside dhabas — in a Jodhpur police station on Saturday, forty-one-year old Salman Khan realised that life does take a full circle. At exactly 2:00pm the Bollywood superstar was told of his new address: Barrack No.1.5, Jodhpur Central Jail. It is the same barrack and cell that Salman was lodged in when he was arrested for three days on April 10, 2006.

On learning about his future residence, Salman wryly remarked, with a smile on his face, to the Jodhpur Jail Superintendent: “You are putting me in that five star suite again with that Mahesh Numbardar?” The superintendent smiled back.

When Salman was bundled back into the police jeep and reached his new residence, Mahesh Numbardar asked the one question that he had been saving up for the last year and a half. “Bhai, why didn’t you keep your promise?”
Salman, said sources, just kept quiet. Last April, when Salman was bailed out he had hugged Mahesh and promised him that he would arrange for his bail and, apparently, promptly forgot about it.     

Bye, bye Mumbai
By 10.00am Galaxy Apartments in Bandra where Salman and his extended family stay was crowded. Fans, policemen and curious onlookers circled the entire apartment complex; making it difficult for anyone to penetrate the concentric circles - you penetrate one, you were faced with another. 

At 10.30am the star made his first appearance, surrounded by his family and close friends. An extremely pensive looking girlfriend Katrina Kaif hung in the background. Booked in the Jet Airways Flight No 9W3407, the send off was typically filmy — lots of long hugs, moist eyes and sad faces.

Salman first hugged his mother Salma. According to a source when Salman finally said, “Ammi main ja raha hoon (Mom, I am going),” she broke down. Sister Alvira rushed to console her.

The superstar then went to Helen (his stepmother), who kept a cheerful face and gave him a kiss on his forehead. His sister-in-law Malaika Arora Khan (brother Arbaaz’s wife) held his hands and, according to an inside source, said, “Don’t worry you will be out of jail in a few days … we are with you.”  

Salman then walked a few steps and talked to Sohail Khan for a minute or two, after which Sohail hugged Salman. When they parted Sohail had tears in his eyes. All along, like a shadow, Salman’s bodyguard Shera followed him - jaws firmly set, steely eyed and ever-protective.

Off-roader for a take-off
There was no way that Salman could have avoided the media. But he was political correctness personified. “I have full faith in law and I will abide by it,” he said. With his bodyguard Shera clearing the way, Salman got into a chauffeur driven Ford Endeavour SUV and sped, followed in droves by mediapersons. Fans kept shouting: “Salman, we love you, Salman, you are the greatest!

At the airport, he boarded the flight, which took off at 11.30am. Salman was accompanied by his brother Sohail, bodyguard Shera and lawyer Dipesh Mehta. The actor was allocated seat 3D and his brother 3F. When the flight was taking off, Salman kept looking out of the window, as if to catch a final glimpse of the city.

A sea of khaki in Jodhpur
When Salman’s flight landed in Jodhpur at 1.00pm, he was greeted by a sea of policeman. At 1.20pm, he was officially arrested by a police team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Sawai Singh.

His lawyer, Dipesh Mehta, kept arguing with Singh that Salman had come to surrender. But the police team would have none of it. A family  source alleged that Salman was roughed up. His bodyguard Shera, then, forced himself into the police jeep that was carrying Salman. His brother and lawyer followed in another jeep.

Khan, wearing a white T-shirt, cargo pants and sunglasses, was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. When the time came to take Salman to the Jodhpur jail, it took a posse of policemen, and an earful from Sohail, to keep Shera from insisting on going with the actor. “I don’t want to leave him alone,” Shera was heard telling Sohail. And, at 2:00 pm, sipping tea, Salman learnt his new address.