The sound was deafening, so loud we could barely hear each other and it killed my ambitious plan to do a one-to-one interview with secularism's new poster boy - Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar - up in the air, onboard his helicopter.
Visually, that's the most tempting place to do a political interview during elections as its sells very well on television. But I sat disappointed when I heard the rotor moving. The sound was so roaring, so loud that you could hear and understand each other only by their lip movement.
As I was cursing my fate and those who hired this helicopter for Nitish Kumar, assurance came from the man himself. "Second wale public meeting main stage pe baat kar lijiyega (We will talk on the stage at the second meeting," he said.
After one hour of silence and passing useless smiles at each other, we landed at Kaimur in Bihar, almost near the Uttar Pradesh border. It was quite early in the day and the crowd was thin.
Nitish triggered off the first public meeting of 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the dais and as crowd cheered him, I was anxiously waiting for this meeting to get over, fly to next destination and finish off my exclusive interview. Not that I was hoping he would give me some super exclusive, explosive stuff but one thing I was sure about - it will certainly make it to the top headlines.
After all, for 2014 elections Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar spat is one of the most sellable news pieces. After an hour long wait, we headed for our next destination, the second public meeting at Sasaram, part of Karakat constituency.
As Nitish Kumar took to his chair on the dais, I stood right in front, as if to remind him of the promise he had made. To my delight, he asked his security men, "Ek chair lagaiye Prabhakar ji ke liye bagal main (put one chair besides me for Prabhakar)."
I was on the job I had come for - chit-chatting with Nitish Kumar on camera, provoking him to be as offensive as possible, trying to make my interview more and more spicy. I got what all I desired, except for loud humming and sound of the speeches going on in background. For good 25 minutes, I replaced the official JDU candidate from his earmarked chair besides the CM and kept shooting questions one after the other.
Remember, Nitish Kumar is a tough nut to crack, but once you have cracked him, it's a smooth sailing thereafter. His bureaucratic approach makes things easy for you. He won't make a commitment easily, but if he has done it, stage will be all set for you - well organised.
Ajay Singh, Editor of Governance Now, who was my co-passenger, would vouch for Nitish's bureaucratic organisational skills. We were all pleasantly surprised, being offered food packets by Nitish Kumar, 1000 feet up in air, for all persons onboard including for the helicopter pilots - paratha and bhujiya neatly packed.
And his complete contrast is Lalu Prasad Yadav, as unorganised as a man can ever get. Attempting a chit chat with him mostly proves to be a nightmare. He would commit and then forget. If you are lucky to find him in a good mood, he would let you even inside his washroom (have interviewed him once while he was shaving) or else he would keep you hanging for days together.
Twice he committed to me. I spent the day chasing him, and at the end he came up with funny excuse - "Gaddi main jagah nahi hai. Dekho na Anwar bhi chala aaya hai sath main (There is no place in the vehicle. See even Anwar has come today)," he once said.
However, a day spent with Nitish is always a journalistic delight. After I was through with my interview, we had two more public meetings to attend, hopping from Sasaram to Aurangabad to Gaya and then finally back to Patna.
It was then that I was mingling with crowd, trying to read their pulse, playing a brain game with the voters.
"Ye toh BJP ke saath rahne wale neta hai, in pe trust kaise kijiyega (He has been with the BJP, how can you trust him?)," I asked a young Muslim youth standing in the front row at a rally.
I was not prepared for the answer he gave. "Hum log ke liye ye apne pucch main aag laga liye hai, ab Lanka jalana baki hai kewal (He has risked his government for us, now he will take on Modi for us)," he said.
Not that the youth was speaking for all Muslims across Bihar but he certainly was echoing one of their thoughts.
Nitish has bet his political fortune on the minority youths like him, rather on Muslims in general, and if even more than 50 per cent Muslims echo the same sentiments as this guy, then Bihar may throw a very surprising result, upsetting most surveys.
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