It was not exactly a date, but a dream come true.
The romance started back in 1982 on a hot and humid afternoon when rummaging through a friend's collection, I came across Kane and Abel. The love was instant, the mesmerisation complete. I was hooked on Jeffrey Archer and he complete the troika I worshipped, Agatha Christie and P G Wodehouse were the others.
A hot and humid evening 26 years later I was about to meet the man whose every book I have waited for with bated breath and devoured like manna from heaven. I wasn't alone. The hearts of a hall full of Archer fans were beating in a similar rhythm of anticipation.
From 60 to six it was a motley crowd of men, women, even children. They all waited for the story-teller -- as he likes to call himself -- to arrive.
Text: Sudarshna Dwivedi. Photograph, Video: Rajesh Karkera
Also read: Shobhaa De: We adjust and the Ganga flows on'
• Buy Jeffrey Archer's A Prisoner of Birth on rediff.com
• Check out other books by Jeffrey Archer on rediff.com
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