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It's not everyday you see an Indian walking around Cairo... and it's also not everyday you see a famous Bollywood film star walking around Cairo. But today, I saw both.

Now let me preface by saying that I'm not a die-hard Bollywood fan by any stretch of the imagination -- for a big part of my life I found all things Bollywood very annoying. But I get star struck very easily, and come on. It's Hrithik Roshan. Second to probably only Shahrukh Khan! Or Amitabh Bachan (which, by the way, to Egyptians is any Indian person. I've stopped counting how many times I've been told here that I look like him... wow).

So Kiran was in the UAE for Eid break, Abu Dhabi for the first half and Dubai for the second half. She was coming back today and I was picking her up from the airport. Her plane back to Cairo from Dubai was set to land at 6:40 p.m. via EgyptAir. And it did, on the dot. But where was I? Wandering around in the other terminal (Terminal 1) for fun.

Kiran texts me, "Just landed." So I quickly head over to Terminal 3, not realizing that she still has to go through customs/passport stuff. But boy am I glad I left and rushed when I did.

Why? Because as I sat down in the front seat of the free airport shuttle, guess who came waltzing in? Well I don't know. But she was tall, had super straight hair, was wearing nice clothes and had these nice shades on. She was definitely not Egyptian. I have Indian girl radar (which still works here in Egypt where most girls could pass for either Pakistani or Indian) so I knew immediately she was a foreigner. And it was only confirmed when I saw the man behind her. A very light-brown eye-colored Indian man with a hat and the face of a prince (or of a Mughal emperor... the third to be precise... ahem -- haha).

I knew almost immediately, my heart told me, this man... this man was famous. He looked straight into my eyes when he walked onto the bus. I got chills. I had a hunch who he was immediately, but it couldn't be. There is absolutely no way he's in Cairo. Why the heck is he in Cairo? This cannot be. He looks shorter than I would have thought. Why is he in Cairo? And why is he on the free airport shuttle! So I quickly glanced at his right hand. Two thumbs. Yep. This is him. This, is Hrithik Roshan.

I look the other direction, as if I was like, "Psh, big deal." But the moment I looked away, it hit me. Hrithik Roshan is on the same bus as me, and not one Egyptian person knows who he is. My starstruckitis kicked in, I started to mildly flip out.

What to do, what to say! Wait! I need to photograph him, no one will believe me. But oh no, I left my camera at my apartment. The first time I ever really need the camera and it's not here! Oh great, now no one will believe me.

But no worries, I'll chat them up. Make friends.

People, I kid you not, I tried chatting it up with Hrithik Roshan. He wasn't alone, aside from that girl (who I'm just going to assume is his wife, Suzanne Khan, even though that girl looked nothing like the Suzanne Khan I Googled... but that could be because of the shades), he had three or four servant-type people... whom he wasn't very nice to. Oh well. But those are the guys that answered me when I tried to talk to Hrithik on the bus.

I knew where they were coming from without asking or looking at the tags on their bags. They were also coming from Dubai. But via the Emirates flight that landed at 6 p.m. at Terminal 1. The servant-guy told me they were heading to Terminal 3 to get on another flight, so I told them to stay on the shuttle as it's where I was heading.

I text Kiran immediately. "Get your camera ready, they're coming to terminal 3." I didn't have to explain who because I had already spilled the beans immediately as he got on the bus.

So we get to Terminal 3, but Kiran is still in customs. No camera, except for my phone. And Hrithik was probably getting ready to board another flight, so I go up to him and supposed-Suzanne and tell them, "Hey, do you mind if I bother you for a photograph? It's not everyday I see a Bollywood film star in Cairo!" Hrithik kind of laughs but gestures me to come to him. He was nicer than I thought he would be after his display with the servant-people. But I'm confused. I don't want one of me, I want one of him and his girl. I guess I'm just so used to taking red carpet shots that I've forgotten the obvious thing to do in this position would be to pose with the superstar! "You come stand with me, and we'll ask the lady to take our photo." I was a little offended by the way he was speaking to me, but hey, it's Hrithik Roshan. He knows what he's doing. So I give the girl/wife/lady my phone (which I will never wash by the way) and she takes our photo. Then I try to chat them up a little bit longer, but they seem rushed, so I walk away. "See ya." haha. I was so nonchalant about the whole thing. I should've shook his hand. Then challenged him to a thumb war.

The Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Burma and southwestern China, and has been introduced to Fiji and Hawaii. It is also common in urban parts of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.


Subspecies bengalensis in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Subspecies bengalensis-immatures in KolkataThis is a bird of scrub, open forest, plains and cultivated lands. It builds its nest in a bush; two or three eggs is a typical clutch.

Red-vented Bulbul is about 20cm in length, with a long tail. It has brown or black upperparts, with a white rump. The breast is brown or black, and the rest of the underparts are white apart from the red around the vent. The head and small crest are black.

Sexes are similar in plumage, but young birds are duller than adults. The flight is bouncing and woodpecker-like.

There are a number of regional variations in plumage, mainly with respect to the upperpart and breast colour. Red-vented Bulbuls feed on fruit, nectar and insects.

The Red-vented Bulbul is incapable of synthesizing vitamin C. It shares this feature with a very limited number of other animals, among which are certain fruit bats and primates (including humans) as well as the guinea pig.