Dating : Noah and I

As I wrapped up a work meeting and headed out to Piccadilly Circus yesterday evening to check on the latest in the London theater circuit, Jason Statham walked right past me holding his baby.

Yes, you can read that again. That man in the picture here is Jason Statham.

As he briskly walked down that road, a young pony-tailed dancer who had been plying his trade outside the Picadilly station (and whom I’ve seen for a few years now) frantically ran after him telling everyone around, ‘That’s Jason Statham! That’s Statham, the movie star! He saw me dance. He was standing there and watching my dance…’

Not that anyone around noticed or even cared for this young man’s exhortations. But Statham glanced at the dancer and looked away and that’s when my eyes locked with Statham. He quickly again avoided my glance, looked the other way towards the GAP store and continued walking.

A few murmurs later, knowing that no one believed him, the dancer looked at me exasperated, and said, ‘He saw me dancing. He was right there..’ It was a strange look because it was like he was seeking some sign of an approval that he had lost all hope of receiving from all of humanity.

I stared right back at the dancer and gave it to him straight up.

‘Yeah, I know. That was Statham. I saw him too,’ I said.

Satisfied but a bit shocked that someone finally believed him, the young man wondered if I was fooling around. But I wasn’t.

I did see this insanely popular film star walk by me in an ordinary track-suit taking that proverbial walk in the park.

‘What’s your name?’ I asked the dancer.

‘Noah,’ he replied.

The calm conviction in my voice however was enough for Noah. He jauntily walked back to his usual spot where he turned up the music and took center stage again. Well, as much of a center stage a street dancer can afford in the buzz of a busy crowd getting back to their families (or other pedantic things).

A few seconds later, the dancer turned around in my direction to see if Statham was still walking ahead on that road. Amidst the milling crowd, I too tried to keep my eyes on that black track suit. But in a moment reminiscent of O’Henry’s (beautiful short story) ‘The Social Triangle’, Statham was by now well beyond the ordinary atmosphere that the dancer and I now inhabited.

All in all, in a span of 15 seconds, this insignificant event about the sighting of a Hollywood movie star, somehow intertwined itself in this slice of life that Noah and I now collectively owned and shared.

It all happened so quick that standing there I couldn’t help but look back on the sequence of events. My reading was that Statham knew we both saw and recognized him but like millions of others who have vanished in thin air from his memory, Noah and I by now, were eradicated from his life already.

But this actor and this shared event has inextricably lodged itself in Noah’s and my memory. At least Noah has a story. A damn good story too, if you think about it.

From Noah’s point of view, he was simply plying his skill and the one and only Jason Statham saw him. Statham stood there and saw him ‘dancing’. I mean what more can an up and coming street dancer hope for? A hugely successful movie star, literally stopped in his tracks (pun intended) and saw Noah’s dance. Its such a fantastic story.

And I?

Well, I am that stupid guy who said that man in the baseball cap was indeed Statham, layering in an extra calm conviction in my short exchange just so that Noah didn’t end up with a broken heart that dreary evening.

The music by now was cranked up to it’s usual volume. It cracked against the edges of those worn out speakers. Noah stood still, exemplifying a pose that was all about to launch into a dazzling moonwalk.

His eyes darted around the crowd. He was already looking for the next Hollywood superstar among his audience.