When Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan's son studies in your daughter's school, you too get sprinkled with stardust, says US-based journalist Preeti Singh.
If you wanted to know what it felt like to be the parent of a classmate of Shah Rukh Khan's kids, here's an open letter from US-based journalist Preeti Singh, whose daughter was a classmate of Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan's son, Aryan.
The open letter, written for a website, might look like an explanation of what it's like to be on fringes of celebrityhood, but it has a deeper essence.
Singh's letter spoke about the year 2003, when she, like many other parents, including Gauri Khan, went to a Mumbai-based school to get their children admitted.
'"Look, Shah Rukh Khan's wife is here. That means Aryan is going to be our kids' classmate," commented an excited father as we took the conducted tour through the new school our five-year-olds were joining,' the letter read.
'In her dark glasses, Gauri stood alone with her son until she met some other Bollywood friends and started chatting. Covertly and overtly, all of us watched Gauri. How she talked, what she wore and if she looked arrogant or friendly. No one, including me, dared to walk up to her to make introductions, like we had been doing with the other parents. It could be a very public snub,' she wrote.
But later, remembering an incident where Singh's daughter was invited to Mannat for Aryan's birthday, she concluded Gauri was a sweet and polite person.
'One afternoon my daughter came back with a birthday card from SRK's son. The party was at Mannat (SRK's house at Bandstand) and I called on the number provided. Gauri answered the phone. She was sweet, polite and told me to drop the child at 4.30 pm and have her picked up by 7.30 pm. Yes, I could send a maid along,' she wrote.
The letter also said how 'being friends with Aryan and the Khans' became the main topic of conversation between the parents for the next few years.
'While SRK and Gauri had no clue who I and dozens of other parents were, their pixie dust changed our lives. Some mothers lost weight to dress up like Gauri, some planned their holidays or bought holiday homes close to the Khans, and others did everything in their power to get their kids to be friends with the Khan kids. And the outside world thought we were royalty too, and best friends with the Khans,' read an extract.
The letter ends with an example of how the Khans were the same as any other parents who wanted their children to grow up well.
'The only time I ever talked to Gauri was when we were both waiting for our kids after school. She realised that our children were classmates and asked me if I had put my daughter in any academic classes after school. I said, "No". She enquired if I sent her to sports classes after school,' read the letter.
'I replied in the negative again and said that I believed in unstructured play. She asked if I spent time teaching her. I said "No", because I wasn't brought up by a helicopter parent. She sighed and said, "Thank God. I thought I was the weird one. But my mother let us be and I let my kids alone as well." They would all grow up just fine, we both agreed,' it added.
