A brief history of fame -- Scientist becomes celeb in city of stars

A brief history of fame -- Scientist becomes celeb in city of stars
D.N. MOORTY

MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 11: Mehmood is a driver. A blessed driver, he says, because he is not just any other driver. He drives Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a chair held by Sir Issac Newton and Paul Dirac and arguably the best known theoretical physicist in the world today.

Mehmood is not the only one celebrating the arrival of a legend in the city. Mumbai is in the grip of a Hawking mania with people who haven'tread him or read about him queueing up for passes for his talk, making the scientist an instant celebrity in the city of glamour and glitz.

Mehmood's talents as a driver are rarely tested, for he is under a writ to drive carefully so as not to cause the slightest discomfort to the physically disabled scientist. He is told not to drive the sleek red Mahindra Ranger at speeds exceeding 25 kmph, unless he is ordered otherwise by the synthesised voice coming from a computer. ``When we are behind schedule, he asks me to drive faster,'' Mehmood told The Indian Express.

To drive the car delicately along the pot-holed roads and uneven roads of Mumbai is a labour of love for Mehmood, never mind the abuses from other drivers wanting to overtake him, unaware of the passenger the Ranger carried.

``Surprisingly,'' says Mehmood, ``I faced the situation even at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Those people must have seen the car and me driving daily. Yet, some of them are still impatient to go past my car.''

Mayola, one of the nurses accompanying Hawking, said that not once did the disabled scientist express discomfort even when the car had to negotiate a rough road patch.

Wife Elaine, assistant Neel, Sharn and Pam, the other two nurses along with Mayola are all amazed at the popular attention Hawking has evoked. According to Neel, nowhere else had Hawking received such media and public attention as in India.

Awe, incredulity, hero-worship and an undercurrent of sympathy -- these are the emotions Stephen Hawking evokes in his non-specialist fans. A college student, Subhashini, put it after hearing Hawking's lecture on The Universe in a Nutshell at the TIFR on Wednesday: ``To survive with such an ailment so long is itself a miracle, to survive and be the greatest living scientist is as mind-boggling as the mysteries of the universe.''

Hawking is today a household name in Mumbai. Ordinary men and housewives with no formal links with science seek to know and hear of him. The British Council is under siege for passes to attend his lecture on Science in the Future slated to be delivered on Sunday at the Shanmukhananda Hall. ``The hall has a capacity of 2,787 and we have received requests for at least three times that number,'' says Anasuya Kesavan, manager, public relations (West India) of the British Council.

It's not just the people who are charmed by the scientist. The Oberoi's which is hosting the legend has altered the 25th-floor suite to cater to Hawking's special needs. A receptionist at the Oberoi's said when asked if there was a team specially catering to Hawking's needs: ``There is no special team. We all look after him.'' The van provided by Mahindras at the request of the British Council is also free. The floor of the van was lowered, roof raised and a ramp added at the rear for Hawking to board the vehicle in his wheelchair.

When the man who made science a bestseller slowly moves around the city, Mumbai just did not recognise other modern scientific greats like David Gross and Edward Witten, here to attend the Strings 2001 conference.