Chamchon ki kami nahin: Advani

J.P. Mathur turned nostalgic when he recalled how Advani, who used to share a barsati with him in the Ajmeri Gate area, had introduced him to the world of English cinema. ‘‘Having come from a small town, I had never seen an English film. But I distinctly remember having seen The Bridge on the River Kwai thrice.’’

On his part, Advani narrated how he was made to pay for three movie tickets though he had been invited to it by a journalist friend and Mathur accompanied as a guest: ‘‘Three of us reached the theatre and discovered that neither Jagdishji nor the host had any money. I had to buy the tickets.’’

When Social Welfare Board chairperson Mridula Sinha claimed that women had achieved a perfect national integration on the dining table, Advani quipped: ‘Not so far as idlis are concerned. They never taste as good when prepared by women from the north.