Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, January 25: The gleaming Omega watches on display ticked away, waiting for supermodel Cindy Crawford to make her grand entry. When she finally did, she smiled and played the celebrity to the hilt.
In India to launch Omega’s Constellation My Choice watches, Crawford talked of punctuality and how she was always on time to media persons who had waited for two hours to hear what she had to say.
"Her plane from Mumbai didn’t take off on time because of bad weather" was the whisper going around at periodic intervals, explaining the delay. After an hour, the rumour was that Cindy Crawford had checked into the hotel but was resting in her room, followed by "she is getting dressed". That raised a few hackles, but the moment passed and the confusion persisted.
While everyone was missing Crawford at the press conference, the airport authorities did not. According to them, Crawford landed at the airport around 12 p.m. and was whisked into a car by her personal security guards. The Omega spokesperson finally said that Cindy would be with us at 2.30 p.m. Cindy was finally with us at 2.45 p.m.
By then the room was abuzz with "she is on the elevator" and "she is behind the screens". Then the lights dimmed and Manpreet Brar and Omega’s president Michele Sofisti walked in. They spoke, video clippings were shown and then suddenly the flashbulbs went crazy.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford posed for a while before sitting down to answer a few questions. She was witty, charming and had quite a few people gushing by the end of it. Wearing Gucci, she spoke of her life and career. "Initially I wanted to be the first woman president of the United States. But going by the recent reports, it is not such a good job after all," she said.
On a personal front she said, "I live in LA and New York. My boy friend is 35 and a businessman. And, I love spending time with my family."
She then went to the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), where the students had been waiting for her since 2 p.m. Her security men, with glittering buttons and dark glasses were in tow.
The students had a good time though. They whooped with delight when Crawford was presented a dress designed by Dr Shalini, a fashion design student. They whooped louder when the yearly scholarship for two NIFT students to the Omegaheadquarters in Switzerland was announced. And they sighed when she said a few words and disappeared.
"We were all so excited. We have been preparing for this for a month now. It was nice seeing her, even though it was for a very short time," said Nidhi Batham, a student.
Crawford was off to visit the Jantar Mantar and then get dressed for the special durbar that was held for her in the evening, complete with horse-drawn carriages.
Incidentally, she was in India because the Swiss watch company Omega is celebrating 150 years of watch making. On the occasion, a donation of 15,000 US dollars was made by the company to the Archaeological Survey of India for the maintenance of the Jantar Mantar.
The new range of watches will, needless to say, cost a fortune. An exclusive Omega show room is also coming up in Connaught Place.
But all this is incidental. The news is that Cindy was in town, period. And she looks just like she looks in all the pictures you’ve seen of hers.
