A journalist colleague was commenting on the youthful looks of one of our senior Congress politicians.
Knowing that the man had been in politics long before I became a journo, I told my friend that the politician in question would at least be 65 years old. We got into an argument. My friend said ``no more than 55’’.
I said ``Believe me, he is a lot older than he looks. But he hides his age well’’. The easiest way of resolving the issue was to ask the politician himself, but we forgot all about it.
More recently, I happened to meet the same politician when a former Karnataka chief minister hosted tea to journalists. As a couple of buttons on his shirt had come undone, I noticed that below the smooth skin of his face and neck, there were several folds of loose skin on the chest – tell-tale remains of skin-tightening. His age was betrayed.
Some weeks ago, when I went to a haircutting saloon, the man in the chair next to me said ``hello’’ and started talking about one of the stories he read in The Week. I returned the greeting and listened without the faintest idea of who he was.
His face was covered in a cucumber face-pack.
By his white sandals, white pants and all the attention the saloon-owner was showering on him, I knew he was a politician. His discussion on the political scene confirmed it. But I could not say his political party. I was talking back to two eyes starting from a green face.
When the face-pack finally came off, I was only trying to remember if I had said anything derogatory about his party. The learned man was a senior politician and a former minister in Karnataka and was a ticket hopeful.
Coming back to my point, I was amazed by this political veteran – he is 71 years old – who wanted to look good at his advanced age. When I ran into him a few days later, his skin was glowing as ever. I thought I must try that cucumber face-pack some time.
Recently, when I went very early in the morning to interview a former Prime Minister, his gunman told me that he was busy exercising and that I should wait for half an hour. (``Could we go in? We could take pictures’’, I asked. ``No. He is dressed only in his shorts. So, please wait’’, said he.)
People say this patriarch has no interest in anything other than politics. But, I learnt different. Even to continue as ``the 24-hour politician’’ that he is, he conditions his mind and body for the rigour.
There are others whom we know to be old. Yet, we can’t stop wondering how youthful they manage to look and how remarkably well-preserved they are. Botox has come as a boon. Hair-weaving for the sparsely-haired and imported wigs for bald pates have done their bit to improve looks. Some politicians augment exercise with ayurvedic treatments while others go abroad every now and then to improve their appearance. They are similar to film-stars and animals, whose survival – be it in Bollywood or in the jungle -- depends on their body-condition.
Having said that, I realise that there is a crucial difference: I recognized the real face of the cucumber face-pack politician recently. He dropped his socialist mask to join a rightist political party.